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Silicon
Valley Slang
A
Academic Placenta The last of one's
academic ideology that exists in your first years as a professional in
the real world.
Angry Garden Salad A poorly designed
user interface where one action on it produces an odd graphical effect
on other parts of the display without much understanding.
Authortisement Presentation given
or book published that is a subtle plug to hire the author as a consultant.
This is often done with the "New Technology Seminars" around
Silicon Valley.
B
B.A.D. (Broken As Designed) A product
fails to perform as expected, because the company making it intentionally
did it that way (either from misunderstanding, or on purpose) e.g. Windows
95's auto-redial being limited to 100 redials.
Banana Problem What you call something
that you don't expect will take a lot of effort for less technically knowledgeable
types (i.e. big dumb gorillas) to handle. Usually referred in increments
of bananas such as "One Banana" for very easy and "Two
Banana" for typically easy. Example: "What's taking them so
long to do that upgrade? That's a two banana problem at most."
BCBS (Big Company, Big School) A project
or relationship between a high profile company and school usually trying
to suppress any small, independent development. The majority of the work
produced is akin to the last two letters of the abbreviation. Example:
"The result of the Boeing / MIT project was just a bunch of BCBS!"
BDU (Brain Dead User) A user who didn't
follow any documentation at all and is calling technical support.
"Big Banging" Creating a
single product which takes in features of two or more products. This is
true especially in software. It is considered one of the most challenging
efforts in engineering. Example: "After the buyout, we are now 'big
banging' the two flagship products into a single release."
Bit Busting Writing very low level,
machine specific software. Most often in assembly language.
"Bit Busting on bare metal" Very
low level coding without the use of any operating system. You are actually
writing the very first machine instructions executed on the CPU when power
is applied. This is often done in embedded systems or BIOS development.
Bit Bucket A fictional piece of equipment
that holds all of the data sent to a machine that isn't connected and
no error is generated. Example: Well those commands just went into the
bit bucket since the modem wasn't turned on.
Bloatware 1) Software that has had
excessive features that a minority of users access. Usually happens on
the third major release of the package. 2) A software package that comes
with demos of other software packages making the installation process
longer.
Boat Anchor Computer so obsolete,
It no longer Serves a purpose (i.e. Apple III's)
Borgware Software which, once installed,
requires the use of other products by the same company. It may shock some
people to learn that Microsoft produces such software. For example: if
you decide to write on-line apps using MS asp, you must then use an MS
server (such as IIS) or your apps won't run. All will be assimilated.
Booboo Someone just out of college,
especially an engineer, placing too much reckless artistic flair or academic
emphasis in commercial development. This usually shows one does not have
real world economic factors in mind. Example: "The engineering crew
is now a bunch of Booboos writing design specs after the stock options
fell through last month." Origin: The cartoon character Yogi Bear's
younger bear friend.
Buzzword Specialist Someone who knows
and can impress management and customers with an astounding knowledge
of industry buzzwords, but has no real working knowledge of the technology.
C
Cappuccino Sipper Someone with too
much pure academic / theoretical development background. They see software
being an entity on its own without any immediate implementation. "Cap.
Heads" usually work with lots of CASE tools, statistical analysis
packages and an excess of graphical visualization tools (usually running
on very powerful and expensive workstations). They prefer languages like:
SmallTalk, LISP, pure ANSI C++ and (of course!) experimental programming
languages. One considers the actual product to be someone's else's work
that "... just makes the theory into reality."
Chartware Software that exists only
on an overhead projector and the mind of the presenter.
Chat-fly (a.k.a. Cyber-barfly) A lady
who hangs out in on-line chat rooms sweet talking others to buy her time
to keep on-line. Operates in a similar manner to ladies hanging out at
bars and having others buy them drinks.
Cluster F**k many things going wrong
at the same time resulting from one action.
Code 18 An error made by the user.
Refers to 18 inches from the computer display. A synonym for PEBCAK.
Command Line Weenie or Liner One who
prefers using the command line instead of Point 'n' Click.
Compile Time Activities Anything done
while waiting for code to finish compiling.
C.R.A.P. Stands for Cheap Redundant
Assorted Products . Time and time again you see a bad product do well
even though there is a product on the market better in every way but costs
5% to 15% more. The cheaper product does better since the market has little
knowledge of judging it's quality so the cheaper / inferior product sells
better.
Critical Path The task of a project
that is an absolute to get it finished. It is like a self warning from
a someone deeply involved in a project and cannot be disturbed. Destruction
will happen if anybody dares to enter their office/room. In many outfits,
it is used as a way to warn people not to disturb AT ALL!!!! Origin: Gannt
chart terminology meaning "longest and least flexible task"
Curry A really in demand and innovative
technique or technology. This term mostly used when it is being used to
something of much larger scope. Example: "That new kernel modification
was just the curry needed to meet the new specifications." Origin:
Refers to the original root of this word being "spice mix".
Curry Network A company LAN that is
paid attention to and running fast and very well and thus "hot".
Origin: Some of these well cared for equipment rooms have a strong curry
smell. This is because heavily curried lunches and dinners are consumed
right in the equipment room since network administrators spend so much
time there. People working in these rooms also get the smell of curry
in their clothes at times.
D
Dead Tree Edition A paper hard copy
of a report. James Hinkin
"Deadfish, Idaho" A fictional
American mid-west town1 that is viewed to be the worse case condition
market spot for mass produced products. It is know for several qualities
like: very "normal" and typical people without imagination nor
innovation, anyone with creative ability is feared and small independent
efforts of any type are considered "cult". It is also source
for some of the most innovative talent in Silicon Valley that left since
they were feared and thus invalidated by the status quo of the town. Example:
"Well this interactive CD is a great product, but how are we going
to package it so it isn't burned in the parking lots of Deadfish, Idaho."
Demo Monkey When a marketing puke
has to demo a product, but hasn't a clue how it works, s/he will recruit
a programmer or QA Puke to run a demo. After a while, the better demo
givers are called Demo Monkeys by the Suits.
Digital Kudzu Software which places
artifacts into every nook and cranny of a computer's file system. All
attempts to delete such applications miss at least some of the artifacts,
which then interfere with other processes forever after.
Down Time A term that originally came
out of the industrial era and mean that the machine was broken and so
one couldn't work. Now it means that the network is so slow it takes at
least 15 minutes for my favorite Web page to show up; might as well be
at the beach doing something productive.
DRI Directly Responsible Individual.
Usually said as in, "The DRI for product release."
Drowndex an convention that is so
large and organized, no real innovations are presented, only incremental
improvements.
Drump (dumpy lump) typically, a middle-aged,
pot bellied, sexually frustrated, single person who has given up on dating.
They have accepted a life of living alone for only one's career and personal
hobbies.
E
"East Coasting" Doing something
that reflects an eastern United States mindset. Examples of this are:
" placing too much emphasis on hierarchy and management decisions
" being uptight and angry continually
" blindly following a precedence decision
" honking you horn if the car ahead of you doesn't move in the same
second the light turns green
" viewing new college graduates as targets for mental abuse
Origin: mostly comes from criticism of corporate styles of the New York
and Boston areas.
"Enabled" A yuppie management
term that means someone has been given the necessary resources to perform
a task.
The (Evil) Empire of the North Any
big software company in the Pacific Northwest who takes pot shots at Silicon
Valley.
Extended Beta The Production Release
will be 'Real Soon Now'.
F
Facer Anyone, most commonly a salesperson
or public speaker, that is able to wax interest to create a positive reaction
to the one they are talking with at any moment. They are very good at
not having their intention or own feelings chalk up the scene.
FCS (First Customer Ship) To many
investors, when a company becomes real buy shipping a product for the
first time.
flowie A tall, thin, long legged woman
dressed in long flowing skirts with loose accessories in either earth
tones or bright colors. There is an extreme amount of amazon style women
here in the California Bay Area that fit this stereotype. Example: Some
flowie just came by here looking for you.
"the Five and Dime" (a.k.a. "Nickel and Dime")
Refers to American telephone area code 510. It covers the east San Francisco
Bay area, most notably Oakland and Berkeley, and is commonly used by telco
and telecom workers. Brian Lee Cross
Forced Coolness (or Forced Hip) An
artificial company image that makes them appeal to the "younger,
with it generation" when in fact the company's culture and/or management
are definitely not that style.
Forced Downgrade
Demoted (usually from executive level job) to a totally meaningless job
or position with the intentions of the person being forced to quit to
avoid contract.
Four-O-Four (404) Isn't where you
are looking for it. Origin: the error code given to a web browser when
the requested page isn't found.
F.Y.I.F.V. Acronym ("F**k You!
I'm fully vested!") A very common term in Silicon Valley Start-ups.
Means that ones holdings are totally held without any penalties off loosing
it if they leave the company. In other words, they are rich.
F.R.E.D. Acronym (F**king Ridiculous
Electronic Device) used to name your computer or answer machine or what
ever electrical device you have a found affection for.
G
"G word, the" Among programmers,
refers to the goto command which is commonly associated with bad programming
form and spaghetti code. Almost a taboo to use.
Geeking, Double using two computers
at the same time. Hence, triple geeking is using three computers at once.
Generation (what kind of hacker you are) First
Generation hackers (born 1950 to 1969) usually have one word handles (i.e.
Stealth, Sunspot, Matrix) , second generation hackers (born 1970 to 1989)
have two word handles (i.e. Phiber Optic, Snake Lord, Acid Run) while
the baby hackers (born after 1989) are using phrases to describe themselves
(i.e. Enter the Night, Midnight Lightning Stroke and Reaching for Stars).
Genius Killer an executive that tries
to suppress innovation for fear that it will interrupt cash flow of an
established product.
"grepping"
to search for something in a very methodical manner. Origin: from the
Unix line command grep (short for "global regular expression print").
The command would search through a bunch of files looking for specific
string in them.
H
"hacker type" an undisciplined
engineer that does technology for ones own idle curiosity and fulfillment.
Hacking quickly completed without
much understanding to apparent short term results.
Hand Holding Tech support done solely
to give a customer confidence about what they are doing. They already
know how to do something but they just want to have someone around with
more experience to relieve pressure of being the most knowledgeable one
in the group. Example: "Flying to the plant for the new unit was
just hand holding since they already have been trained how to use it.".
Hands-Off Manager Doesn't complain
when you get in late, and allows you to do the project "your way"
since he respects your abilities and knows you'll get it done ahead of
schedule if just left alone. A lot of the time, if you get a manager like
this, you might wonder if you even have a manager.
Hands-On Manager A manager who still
does a little coding just to keep in touch with reality
High Visibility Position If you screw
up, you'll get fired and everyone will know. Be careful about accepting
jobs that are described using this term.
I
I/O Error Error cause by an I gnorant
O perator. A technical support term to label such operator in conversation.
It sounds like a computer thing, but we're really saying, "Hey, an
Ignorant Operator." in discussion. Origin: Name sake of the term
meaning Input/Output Error. Ross Newberry
I-d-10-t error (Otherwise known as
the idiot error) When a 'puter illiterate whines that something isn't
working because either A) It's not plugged in. or B) it's not "Exactly"
the way it looked yesterday.
"In the Stocks" 1) Having
a job or assignment where one has to be on the company's site for a full
40 hour week. Typically to one that is used to "off site" jobs.
2) Moving from contracting to a full time, salary position for career
"safety". Example: "Ever since coming back from that trip
back east, she's been 'in the stocks' to finish up the project."
"In the Zone" One who so
busy at writing software or any other development effort, they completely
shut out all other communication in the process by putting all of their
attention to it.
Initiative Deliberately disobeying
a destructive order from your manager and being right in the long run
(like the original Mac engineers who put in a greater RAM capacity than
Steve Jobs permitted).
K
Kid Sibling Management A style of
decision making where one almost always follows the logic of the person
whom the manager replaced. One does not use their own experience, if they
have any, and solely follows position precedence. Origin: Akin to one
acting like a big brother or sister since oneself is not established enough.
L
LA (as in "doing an LA") This
means several things:
" putting style and looks before substance and function
" arriving somewhere in their own cars without driving anyone else
" putting a Hollywood movie production style schedule to software
- especially CD-ROMs or games
" supressing any expression of excitement or surprise to show "what's
new is old to you".
" hiring someone for their looks.
Lasagna Syndrome writing a piece of
software with too many dialog boxes over-lapping each other to complete
a task.
Legacy Media 1) the "old press"
as in radio, television but especially newspapers. 2) anything on web
sites that follows media presentation styles of older medias to much restricting
the capability of the media it is presented upon . Example: That is web
site is so legacy media in form since it reads like a newspaper. 3) something
that is presented where the receiver is not contributing to content and
is totally passive
Lemming 1) an executive or company
in general that only produces products solely on a customer demand basis
without taking any initiative to lead product innovation. 2) a poorly
responding or falling mouse.
"Let's Discuss That Off-Line" A
term typically used in the middle of a heated meeting. It usually means
there is someone in the room and it's easier to talk behind their backs.
Be concerned if you're the one who's not invited to this "off-line
discussion".
"a Little Short On RAM" A
reference for when one does not possess the mental capacities that are
required for the task at hand.
L.M.F.D.A. Short for "Leave My
F**king Data Alone." Usually refers to faulty or "enhanced"
print spoolers that alter your print images. This is also being applied
to web browsers.
LOPSOD Short for "Long On Promises,
Short On Delivery". A product with a lot of hype and not living to
its created expectations upon shipment.
Errors caused by a user who blames most of their work related problems
on the computer.
"Losing Our Virginity" Refers
to the first time you gave up equity in the company to a VC investor.
Lumpy an overweight, over intellectual,
introverted person who hangs out at trade shows and sci-fi conventions.
Usually turns into a Drump in later life.
M
"Magic Smoke" The substance
you see escape out of computers right after they stop working. In actuality,
it is the electrical hardware burning out. This condescending joke has
come about to explain to the naive that there is "magic smoke"
inside the computer chips that is placed in there during manufacture that
makes it all work. That is why there are so many big tanks by semiconductor
fabs. Those tanks hold the "magic smoke" for the chips.
Mainframe Management An dated management
group. Especially a group that has a lot of new hires that are restricting
moderate changes in product, production or culture fearing they will loose
centralized power. Origin: This mindset came about literally due to the
support need to function a mid 20th Century IBM mainframe computer. That
is, data coming in and out of the core group of a company since those
were the only ones with regular access to the machines.
Meatloaf Unsolicited personal mass
mail. Usually created by someone who collects personal e-mails from discussion
groups, parties and such to add to a group mail list. Then ones personal
rants and raves are mailed off whether or not the receiver cares for what's
inside. Origin: A relative to Spam but is "home made". Also
from the old Vaudeville line "... have you had grandma's meatloaf?"
Special credit goes to the e-mail blasts of David Treemarchi.
Management by Spreadsheet Very mindless
and irresponsible decision making where one's data comes solely from poorly
weighted statistics; usually from a general purpose statistical package.
Example: Someone is laid off because they have the highest salary in the
group. By the spreadsheet, a savings is made. In reality, the productivity
of the groups falls since the most productive, thus cost effective, person
is lost.
Meeting Engineer A person who spends
more time in meetings than doing actual work. Those who fall into this
category usually have either dated technical skills or none in the first
place. This person will tend to complain about how they never have time
to get any work done since they're in meetings all the time.
Middles, Three Deadly These are in
order: middle manager, middle class and middle aged. In most cases, one
out of three is unavoidable. If you get two out of three, it should be
of concern. Three out of three -- Panic!! -- and make sure you get something
out of your mid-life crisis.
Middle School Dance A condition where
two pieces of equipment are both waiting for the other to initiate communication
thus resulting in no exchange at all. This occurs mostly during peer-to-peer
system integration or software networking. Origin: Reflects typical adolescent
school social where everyone is so self conscience, no one will initiate
by asking someone to dance.
Milker a consultant or contractor
who pulls out a task over an unneeded length of time solely to get more
money without continually adding value.
Marketing Puke anyone, not necessarily
a marketing person, who lacks a fundamental understanding of a product
or market and works solely off buzz-words, catch phrases or analogies.
N
NCG (New College Graduate) typically
a very impressionable person on their first professional job with a great
deal of zeal and willingness to do anything.
Nerd Bird Any weekday direct airline
flight between Austin, Texas and San Jose, California. There are many
engineers and technical types regularly on this flight since there are
so many hi-tech developments in both cities. It is also known that a good
amount of job seeking and rumor milling occurs on this flight.
Nerve Center the place in the company
where the most communication and decisions occur to make it run.
Network Pirate Someone who harasses
other people on the network, usually within a comany's LAN, just to get
their jollies. This person will brazenly look at other peoples' files
(if not password protected), and generally do obnoxious things, such as
sending unwanted sound files to your computer at the most embarrasing
of times.
"Nine to Five Code" Software
that is ordinary and plain. It has not real innovation and just gets the
job done. Orgin: Notes the time of day that it is written on a regular
business schedule.
O
"Out of the Garage" A very
Silicon Valley term denoting a company has moved into its first real office
and is now "professional". To this day, many high-tech companies
start in residential areas and then move to an office where resources
are more accessable (i.e. data-lines, office floor space, storage, etc.)
as they grow. Origin: The Garage that Hewlett-Packard was started in Palo
Alto, CA during the 1930's.
Overgrad Someone in a full-time, salaried
professional position that still uses academic politics and attitudes.
The core of this attitude is the mistake of assuming popularity makes
for career progress. Examples of these actions are: expressing concern
in strong voice while not having ability nor actions to follow through,
false affinity for others to forward themself and using ones personality
and charm to forward their position without any personal production. Good
executives are able to identify and layoff these types when productivity
stops. Orgin: From the phrase "Not over graduation yet."
P
Parade traveling over long distances
to demonstrate products.
PEBCAK Stands for "Problem Exists
Between Chair And Keyboard". Acronym slang for idiot operator errors
used by tech support people trying to make it sound sophisticated to the
user.
Pencil In tentatively planned but
no commitment made.
Pin Bender Shoddy Technician
PITA Fee An "extended service
fee" or "additional delivery cost" added on a bill or invoice
done when the customer has been a total "Pain in the A*s"
Ponytails Refers to those in creative/art
director positions. They are mostly seen in design, post-production, game
and entertainment business in or around Silicon Valley. Example: "Well,
here's the script, let's run it by the ponytails".
Potato Server Any server in a network
which operates suspiciously slower than it's siblings. Origin: The current
international data connection is very slow. Thus, servers operating in
Ireland created legendary tardiness with its operation compared to transporting
sacks of potatoes by train.
Prairie Dogging The event of everyone
in their cubicles to get out of their chairs, stand up on their toes and
peer over the tops of their cubicles to see what is happening. Usually
comes from a big fight or something of the same magnitude. You usually
just see a lot of other eyes and foreheads if you're one of the "prairie
dogs".
Pro-Active Much overused term in Silicon
Valley. This means that one should handle situations before they turn
into flaps, although it is all-too-often used by managers to "delegate"
work to subordinates that they themselves should actually be doing.
Profile-digger (a.k.a. Cyber-golddigger) A
lady who goes over on-line chats, personal bios and profiles of services
like AOL, Matchmaker, Well, Compuserve and others for the sole meaning
of finding a single, rich man to latch-on to and spend their money in
a one way relationship.
Progammer's Butt Also called "bubble
butt" outside of the high-tech field. This is what programmers get
from long hours of coding combined with using pizza as their staple food.
Shows why programmers must occasionally enjoy the fresh air or join a
health club.
Q
QA Pukes What software engineers sometimes
use to refer to their Quality Assurance (QA) department. Testers and QA
personnel often get no respect at a lot of the high-tech companies in
Silicon Valley since the software engineers consider themselves technically
superior to QA and because the QA folks have been known to find bugs at
the most inopportune moments, like two hours before Golden Master.
Quadruplitory Development The phenomenon
of four different engineers being assigned to the same task, in complete
ignorance of each other.
R
Real Programming writing software
with no debugging facilities at all. Code is built up from a single, simple
operation to incremental complexity 'til the desired function is achieved.
Famous systems were made through this method since there were no tools
yet created to debug them.
Re-Start Up A company who's initial
business plan failed but still has the resources to change direction in
attempt to survive.
RFR A requirement for a product to
get funding for development. If a product looks like it will make you
REALLY F*CKING RICH, it's referred to as RFR and gets funded.
RFS Mean in a exasperated term when
the product will ship REALLY F*CKING SOON. Example: "RFS, okay? Can
we kill this meeting and just let me get back to programming, will ya?"
RTFM Stands for "Read the F**king
Manual". A very common term exchanged between technial support people.
This expression indicats that the answer to a problem could be found by
reading the manual supplied with the hardware/software in question.
S
Scarecrow Technology A hyped-up piece
of technology that when examined and used, has no uniqueness nor value
other than image. Example: "That so called secret object-oriented
technology was only a bunch of database requests inside a button click
and ended up being Scarecrow Technology during the buyout talks."
Christina Freymarc
Schedule-Driven A product that's going
to be shipped by a certain date whether or not its ready and whether or
not the QA folks approve of it.
Screen-Saver Face The look one gets
when they have been bored to the point of just shutting off their brain.
Jim Van Dyke
Self-Starter Doesn't need orders to
operate. Also means that people have enough confidence in him/her that
he/she gets in when he/she feels like it (at a reasonable time, of course
- say noon?).
SEP A term used for bug, bad business
policy or other general snafu, usually implemented despite your advise,
that is ignored because you are powerless to fix it. Origin: Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy
Shareware Girl the one lady that is
everybody's darling .
Sheeple Short for "Sheep People".
1) Groups who reactively act from saturation advertising, fads, trends
and need to go along with the crowd. 2) Those who let "group think"
affect their decisions instead of their own individualism. 3) The nickame
given to those who's purchasing habits matching that of large demographics
by 80% or greater.
Shelfware (a.k.a. Coasterware) Software
that is so worthless it remains in the shrink-wrapped box on the shelf
above your desk.
Shovelware CD-ROMs that have no content
organization at all. The data was just blindly copied on and requires
and excessive amount of searching to find something useful.
Show Trade show where products are
exhibited.
"Singing 'Daisy'..." The
final action of a computer when it is being brought down for good; most
noteably for large miniframe or mainframe computers. Origin: The scene
from 2001: A Space Odyssey as the HAL computer was being shutdown and
it was singing "Daisy".
Skeet A handheld device or small desktop
unit either so faulty or obsolete that it is only good for skeet shooting
(e.g. akin to clay ducks thrown in the air for shotgun firing practice).
Example: "Ever since the release of the Newton 2000, the old 100's
are skeet."
SLIRK Stands for "Smart Little
Rich Kid". A very bratty, pretentious, young child with great technical
prowess using daddy's money for "toys." These types become either
fantastic entrepreneur / engineers or totally renegade, technical criminals
upon becoming of age.
Smoke Test The first time electrical
power is applied to a printed circuit board. If the board does not smoke
from a short or overload, it has passed the Smoke Test.
Sneakernet When data is transferred
between workstations by copying it to a floppy and walking it to the intended
workstation. James Hinkin
Spaghetti Code Software whose execution
path is so tangled and confusing it is almost impossible to understand.
Often brought about by overuse of the G word.
Start-Up a company starting from the
ground up. A new name is formed, people recruited and something is created.
S.T.B.Y. Stands for "Sucks to
be you". Usually said when the person you are talking to really screwed
up.
Strawman (a.k.a. Strawdog) a proposal
that everyone expects to fail but it gets your group noticed. Example:
"This is just a strawman proposal to see if we can generate any interest
from the marketing weenies."
"the Suits" After a startup
gets to a certain size, "the suits" start to drift in with the
supposed purpose of expanding the company. These are the sales/marketing/finance
types that wear a buttoned-down shirt and tie in a high-tech company when
even the CEO doesn't. Be careful with these types around as they tend
to be very political and backstabbing, motivated by money, not by the
passion of technology. Example: In Apple Computer, Jobs/Wozniak were technologists
and visionaries, Scully was "the suit". Similar in some ways
to a Marketing Puke.
Synergy two or more people getting
together to do a job without anyone knowing the overall skills needed.
T
Team Player An engineer with no backbone
who just "yes"'es everything at a design review. Can also mean
someone who gets in early and makes coffee for everyone else. The latter
definition is more desirable when it is being applied to you.
Techno-Babble words which are specifcally
arranged in such a way that any educated person will see the fact that
the definition of techno-babble is a "conglomeration of co-descriptive
informative verbs, adjectives and nouns" To the un-educated these
techno-babble phrases, like the one describing this definition, were ment
to overwhelm the newbie as to resist the weak spirited in the computer
industry thus creating a cult feeling to those "in the know".
Ten Dollar Solution Anything that
works infinitely better than that "new thing" and the superior
technology is at least 30 years old. (i.e. trying to follow a ballgame
on a Real Audio plugin vs. a ten dollar transistor radio).
Theory Design (a.k.a. Scientific Design, Generalization Engineering, Head-in-the-clouds
Development)
An often ill-fated development method that doesn't result in a product
since too much generalization and theory was used. It usually comes about
when one just "stops and thinks" way too often. Thus, confrontation
of reality is lost by not attacking nor experimenting with the problem.
Many developers do this after a series of product failures and thus "gun
shy" of implementation. Example: "Instead of just trying the
different equipment configurations, he was just calling everyone he knew,
formed a group opinion and delayed the project for a week. We needed to
call in another engineer to recover from his Theory Design."
Think Time This is what a human when
he/she gets an "idle event". One usually has a lot of this type
of time during a long compile or a slow network connection.
Thunk 1) software calling oldered
software of a smaller word size. 2) Using an older mindset out of conveince
-- especially with management decisions.
"Three A.M. Code" Software
written in a very original, hackly or unorthodox manner. It is usually
innovative breaking a lot of the "rules" of good design in order
to get a product shipping. See also curry. Origin: The time of day code
like this is usually written.
"Throw it over the wall" Get
your part of some project done, then pass it off to the next group that
has to worry about it (or most likely, review it.) Mostly used when there
is little contact or communication with the other group. Example: We'll
get that new design finished, then throw it over the wall to the next
group to look at.
TLA departments Short for "Three
Letter Acronym". A department of a company that does not have any
apparent function at all. Groups like this are usually created by trendy
management fads.
Tofu made too general in use or appearance
for anying specific.
Tofu Syndrome making software or a
product so general and portable that it does not take any advantage of
special features of the machine it is being run on.
Torpedo an unproductive person going
to a rival organization, sometimes with encouragement.
Triority The three things your manager
would have you do at once.
U
Uninstalled Fired or laid off. Example:
"Jeff was here last week, but he was uninstalled on Monday."
V
Valley Wash-Out one in the high-tech
business who had an established career in the Valley and moved their career
elsewhere by taking: a cut in pay, a more "secure" position,
or "gave up on the scene". They are easily spotted by their
dramatization of how much better it is where they are and how tough it
is out here.
Vapourware (or " vaporware " as you
Americans spell it) soft/hardware that has been advertised
for months but isn't available in any shape or form. Tim Hughes
Visionary A term usually applied to
industry opinion leaders like Steve Jobs and Bills Gate. Although it can
mean someone who has the ability to see into the future and/or can envision
a brilliant new technology, it usually means someone who sees the value
in the work other people have done.
VRBS (Virtual Reality Bulls**t) any
talk about a technology so far reaching, no immedate application can be
created.
W
Waldo a demo given with great showmanship
for a product with little innovation or creativity.
"The Way" 1) Having a very
instant, zen-like understanding of a problem and how to solve it. 2) Possessing
the ability to know how to write complex software and complete it without
any rewriting or major adjustment.
Worder anyone who use personal computers
only for writing, just like a typewriter machine.
WOMBAT Stands for "Waste of Money
Brains and Time". Is suitable to describe a person, product or project.
Y
"You're good." a very high
compliment one engineer can give to another. It simply states that one's
work is appreciated and you can create very well.
Z
Zapping The lowest form of software
programming know to mankind. It involves altering the assembly code in
hex format after it has been output from a complier or assembler. Done
typically when there is a compiler bug, the proper data is not being generated
or original source code has been lost. Origin: Comes from the old IBM
mainframe days of the 1960's where field units were updated in the exact
manner. .
1. I'm using the term "midwest"
in the California view here. Others would consider Idaho part of the Mountain
States. Here "midwest" is considered anything west of Fresno
and the east coast starts at Chicago. Things are different out here.
2. There has been a bit of controversy
over where the term grep comes from. Another alleged origin of the work
is "Get Regular Expression and Print". .
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Clases
de Ingles particulares a domicilio:
Pagadas por hora, a domicilio. Ver valores.
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AQUI
Ingles
Militar:
Desde una pistola automatica a sistemas integrados
de alerta temprana.
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AQUI
Ingles de Negocios:
Comente en Ingles un Business plan, o envie por
e-mail un contrato.
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AQUI
Ingles
legal:
Aprenda terminos legales en ingles y derecho civil,
comercial, criminal y constitucional de los Estados Unidos.
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AQUI
Nomenclatura IT:
Para los que trabajan en Sistemas, es escencial
conocer terminos comerciales de IT, internet y Computacion.
CLICK AQUI
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