WhatIs

/in-ˌkan-ˈtā-shən/

n. Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that one must mutter at a system to attain a desired result. Not used of passwords or other explicit security features. Especially used of tricks that are so poorly documented they must be learned from a wizard.

"This compiler normally locates initialized data in the data segment, but if you mutter the right incantation they will be forced into text space."

/in t͟hə ik-ˈstrēm/

adj. A preferred superlative suffix for many hackish terms. See, for example, 'obscure in the extreme' under obscure, and compare highly.

/I-M-H-O/

[from SF fandom via USENET; acronym for In My Humble Opinion]

"IMHO, mixed-case C names should be avoided, as mistyping something in the wrong case can cause hard-to-detect errors -- and they look too Pascalish anyhow." Also seen in variant forms such as IMNSHO (In My Not-So-Humble Opinion) and IMAO (In My Arrogant Opinion).

/il bi-ˈhāv'd/

adj. 

/if'def owt/

v. Syn. for condition out, specific to C.

/I-C-E/

[coined by USENETter Tom Maddox, popularized by William Gibson's cyberpunk SF novels: acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics]

/I-B-M di-ˌskau̇nt/

n. A price increase. Outside IBM, this derives from the common perception that IBM products are generally overpriced (see clone); inside, it is said to spring from a belief that large numbers of IBM employees living in an area cause prices to rise.

/I-B-M/

Inferior But Marketable; It's Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; It's Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement; and a near-infinite number of even less complimentary expansions, including International Business Machines.

See TLA.

These abbreviations illustrate the considerable antipathy most hackers have long felt toward the 'industry leader' (see fear and loathing).

/in-tər-ˈnash-nə-ˌlī-zā-shən/

n. Abbrev. for internationali(z/s)ation, with the 18 replacing 18 letters. Used in the X (windows) community.

/in-tər-ˌä-p(ə-)rə-ˈbi-lə-tē/

n. Abbrev. for interoperability, with the 14 replacing fourteen letters. Used in the X (windows) community. Refers to portability and compatibility of data formats (even binary ones) between different programs or implementations of the same program on different machines.