background n.,adj.,vt.
[common] To do a task `in
background' is to do it whenever foreground matters are not
claiming your undivided attention, and `to background' something
means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just
print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing
problem in background." Note that this implies ongoing activity
but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream
`back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some future
resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for
processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a
tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an
obstacle in creative work). Compare amp off, slopsucker.
Technically, a task running in background is detached from the
terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower
priority); oppose foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily
associated with Unix, but it appears to have been first used
in this sense on OS/360.
[common] To do a task `in
background' is to do it whenever foreground matters are not
claiming your undivided attention, and `to background' something
means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just
print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing
problem in background." Note that this implies ongoing activity
but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream
`back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some future
resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for
processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a
tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an
obstacle in creative work). Compare amp off, slopsucker.
Technically, a task running in background is detached from the
terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower
priority); oppose foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily
associated with Unix, but it appears to have been first used
in this sense on OS/360.
Related:
- background: n.,adj.,vt. To do a task `in background' is to do
it whenever {foreground} matters are not claiming your undivided
attention,
and `to background' something means to relegate it... - foreground vt.
[Unix; common] To bring a task to the
top of one's stack for immediate processing,
and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer... - foreground: [UNIX] vt. To bring a task to the top of one's
{stack} for immediate processing,
and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer... - slopsucker: /slop'suhk-r/ n. A lowest-priority task that
waits around until everything else has `had its fill' of machine
resources.
Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the... - slopsucker /slop'suhk-r/ n.
A lowest-priority task that
waits around until everything else has `had its fill' of machine
resources.
Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the... - window shopping n.
[US Geological Survey] Among users of
WIMP environments like X or the Macintosh,
extended experimentation with new window colors... - window shopping: [US Geological Survey] n. Among users of {WIMP
environment}s like {X} or the Macintosh,
extended experimentation with new window colors... - boot v.,n.
[techspeak; from `by one's bootstraps'] To
load and initialize the operating system on a machine.
This usage is no longer jargon (having passed into... - gun vt.
[ITS, now rare: from the :GUN command]
To forcibly terminate a program or job (computer,
not career). "Some idiot left a background process...
