WhatIs

/tü ā zir-ōth ə-präk-sə-mā-shən/

[from to a first approximation]

A really sloppy approximation; a wild guess.

Compare social science number.

/tü ā fərst ə-präk-sə-mā-shən/

1. [techspeak] When one is doing certain numerical computations, an approximate solution may be computed by any of several heuristic methods, then refined to a final value. By using the starting point of a first approximation of the answer, one can write an algorithm that converges more quickly to the correct result.

/T-M-R-C/

n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of the wellsprings of hacker culture. The 1959 'Dictionary of the TMRC Language' compiled by Peter Samson included several terms which became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see esp. foo and frob).

/T-L-A/

[Three-Letter Acronym]

n. 1. Self-describing acronym for a species with which computing terminology is infested.

2. Any confusing acronym. Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU, MMU, SCCS, DMU, FPU, NNTP, TLA. People who like this looser usage argue that not all TLAs have three letters, just as not all four-letter words have four letters. One also hears of 'ETLA' (Extended Three-Letter Acronym, pronounced /ee tee el ay/) being used to describe four-letter acronyms. The term 'SFLA' (Stupid Four-Letter Acronym) has also been reported.

/titz ȯn ā kē-bȯrd/

n. Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep touch-typists registered (usually on the 5 of a numeric keypad, and on the F and J of a QWERTY keyboard).

/tī(-ə)rd ī(-ə)rn/

[IBM]

n. Hardware that is perfectly functional but far enough behind the state of the art to have been superseded by new products, presumably with sufficient improvement in bang-per-buck that the old stuff is starting to look a bit like a dinosaur.

/tip əv t͟hə īs-kyüb/

[IBM]

n. The visible part of something small and insignificant. Used as an ironic comment in situations where tip of the iceberg might be appropriate if the subject were actually nontrivial.

/tī-nē-krəd/

n. A pejorative used by habitues of older game-oriented MUD versions for TinyMUDs and other user-extensible MUD variants; esp. common among users of the rather violent and competitive AberMUD and MIST systems. These people justify the slur on the basis of how (allegedly) inconsistent and lacking in genuine atmosphere the scenarios generated in user extensible MUDs can be. Other common knocks on them are that they feature little overall plot, bad game topology, little competitive interaction, etc.

/tīmz-ər-də-vī-dəd-bī/

[by analogy with plus-or-minus]

quant. Term occasionally used when describing the uncertainty associated with a scheduling estimate, for either humorous or brutally honest effect.

For a software project, the factor is usually at least 2.

/tīm tē/

n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1.

"We'll meet on campus at time T or at Louie's at time T+1" means, in the context of going out for dinner:

"We can meet on campus and go to Louie's, or we can meet at Louie's itself a bit later." (Louie's is a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto that is a favorite with hackers.)