flag day n.
A software change that is neither forward-
nor backward-compatible, and which is costly to make and costly to
reverse. "Can we install that without causing a flag day for all
users?" This term has nothing to do with the use of the word
flag to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use
when a massive change was made to the Multics timesharing
system to convert from the short-lived 1965 version of the ASCII
code to the 1967 version (in draft at the time); this was scheduled
for Flag Day (a U.S. holiday), June 14, 1966. See also
backward combatability.
A software change that is neither forward-
nor backward-compatible, and which is costly to make and costly to
reverse. "Can we install that without causing a flag day for all
users?" This term has nothing to do with the use of the word
flag to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use
when a massive change was made to the Multics timesharing
system to convert from the short-lived 1965 version of the ASCII
code to the 1967 version (in draft at the time); this was scheduled
for Flag Day (a U.S. holiday), June 14, 1966. See also
backward combatability.
Related:
- flag day: n. A software change that is neither forward-
nor backward-compatible, and which is costly to... - backward combatability: /bak'w*rd k*m-bat'*-bil'*-tee/ [from
`backward compatibility'] n.
A property of hardware or software revisions in... - flag: n. A variable or quantity that can take on one of two
values;
a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one... - flag n.
[very common] A variable or quantity that can
take on one of two values;
a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate... - backward combatability /bak'w*rd k*m-bat'*-bil'*-tee/ n.
[CMU, Tektronix: from `backward compatibility'] A property... - security through obscurity
(alt. `security by obscurity')
A term applied by hackers to most OS vendors' favorite way of
coping with security holes -
namely, ignoring them, documenting neither any known... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - foo /foo/
1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. [very
common] Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely
anything,
esp. programs and files (esp. scratch files). 3. First... - mode bit: n. A {flag}, usually in hardware, that selects between
two (usually quite different) modes of operation.
The connotations are different from {flag} bit in...
From the same category:
- fuzzball n.
[TCP/IP hackers] A DEC LSI-11 running a
particular suite of homebrewed software written by Dave Mills and
assorted co-conspirators,
used in the early 1980s for Internet ... - semi-automated adj.
[US Geological Survey] A procedure
that has yet to be completely automated;
it still requires a smidge of clueful human interaction... - HTH //
[Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: Hope This
Helps (e.g.
following a response to a technical question). Often... - FOD /fod/ v.
[Abbreviation for `Finger of Death',
originally a spell-name from fantasy gaming] To terminate... - cookbook n.
[from amateur electronics and radio] A book of small
code segments that the reader can use to do various magic
things in programs.
One current example is the "PostScript...
