slop 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. When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often
introduced to avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of
a fencepost error. 2. The percentage of `extra' code
generated by a compiler over the size of equivalent assembler code
produced by hand-hacking; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you
lose because you didn't do it yourself. This number is often used
as a measure of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very
good, and 10% is usually acceptable. With modern compiler
technology, esp. on RISC machines, the compiler's slop may
actually be negative; that is, humans may be unable to
generate code as good. This is one of the reasons assembler
programming is no longer common.
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. When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often
introduced to avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of
a fencepost error. 2. The percentage of `extra' code
generated by a compiler over the size of equivalent assembler code
produced by hand-hacking; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you
lose because you didn't do it yourself. This number is often used
as a measure of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very
good, and 10% is usually acceptable. With modern compiler
technology, esp. on RISC machines, the compiler's slop may
actually be negative; that is, humans may be unable to
generate code as good. This is one of the reasons assembler
programming is no longer common.
Related:
- slop 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... - fudge factor n.
[common] A value or parameter that is
varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result.
The terms `tolerance' and slop are also used, though... - fudge factor: n. A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way
to produce the desired result.
The terms `tolerance' and {slop} are also used,... - fencepost error n.
1. [common] A problem with the discrete
equivalent of a boundary condition,
often exhibited in programs by iterative loops.... - bare metal n.
1. [common] New computer hardware,
unadorned with such snares and delusions as an operating... - vaxocentrism /vak`soh-sen'trizm/ n.
[analogy with
`ethnocentrism'] A notional disease said to afflict C programmers
who persist in coding according to certain assumptions that are
valid (esp.
under Unix) on VAXen but false elsewhere. Among ... - back door n.
[common] A hole in the security of a
system deliberately left in place by designers or maintainers.
The motivation for such holes is not always sinister... - fencepost error: n. 1. A problem with the discrete equivalent of a
boundary condition,
often exhibited in programs by iterative loops.... - MFTL /M-F-T-L/
[abbreviation: `My Favorite Toy Language']
1.
adj. Describes a talk on a programming language design...
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After-sale handholding; something many software
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To hackers, most support people are useless -- because... - cdr /ku'dr/ or /kuh'dr/ vt.
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The name given to Intel's P5 chip, the
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The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel...
