WhatIs

/smōk test/

n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to electronic equipment following repair or reconfiguration, in which power is applied and the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other dramatic signs of fundamental failure.

See magic smoke.

2. By extension, the first run of a piece of software after construction or a critical change.

See and compare reality check.

/smī-lē/

n. See emoticon.

/smash t͟hə stak/

[C programming]

/smash kās/

vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase distinction in text input.

"MS-DOS will automatically smash case in the names of all the files you create."

Compare fold case.

/smärt tərm-nəl/

n. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase 'act like a smart terminal' used to describe the behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote server's storage, using said devices as displays.

/smärt/

adj. Said of a program that does the Right Thing in a wide variety of complicated circumstances. There is a difference between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in particular, there do not exist any intelligent programs (yet -- see AI-complete).

Compare robust (smart programs can be brittle).

/slərp/

vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working on it. This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next piece.

"This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT."

See also sponge.

/släp-sə-kər/

n. A lowest-priority task that must wait around until everything else has had its fill of machine resources. Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the task allowed to suck up the slop. Also called a hungry puppy. One common variety of slopsucker hunts for large prime numbers.

Compare background.

/släp/

n. 1. A one-sided fudge factor, that is, an allowance for error but in only one of two directions. For example, if you need a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it, you make very sure to cut it too long, by a large amount if necessary, rather than too short by even a little bit, because you can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on again.

/slim/

n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code).