vadding /vad'ing/ n.
[from VAD, a permutation of ADV
(i.e., ADVENT), used to avoid a particular admin's
continual search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A leisure-time
activity of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the
`secret' parts of large buildings -- basements, roofs, freight
elevators, maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A
few go so far as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize
vadding keys. The verb is `to vad' (compare phreaking; see
also hack, sense 9). This term dates from the late 1970s,
before which such activity was simply called `hacking'; the older
usage is still prevalent at MIT.
The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator
rodeo', a.k.a. `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin'
down a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of
string, and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating
ways (such as elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and
the ever-popular drop experiments). Kids, don't try this at home!
See also hobbit (sense 2).
[from VAD, a permutation of ADV
(i.e., ADVENT), used to avoid a particular admin's
continual search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A leisure-time
activity of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the
`secret' parts of large buildings -- basements, roofs, freight
elevators, maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A
few go so far as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize
vadding keys. The verb is `to vad' (compare phreaking; see
also hack, sense 9). This term dates from the late 1970s,
before which such activity was simply called `hacking'; the older
usage is still prevalent at MIT.
The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator
rodeo', a.k.a. `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin'
down a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of
string, and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating
ways (such as elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and
the ever-popular drop experiments). Kids, don't try this at home!
See also hobbit (sense 2).
Related:
- vadding /vad'ing/ n.
[from VAD, a permutation of ADV
(i.e.
ADVENT), used to avoid a particular admin's continual... - hack
[very common] 1. n. Originally, a quick job that
produces what is needed,
but not well. 2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps... - phreaking: /freek'ing/ [from `phone phreak'] n. 1. The art and
science of cracking the phone network (so as,
for example, to make free long-distance calls).... - down: 1. adj. Not operating. "The up escalator is down" is
considered a humorous thing to say,
and "The elevator is down" always means "The elevator... - phreaking /freek'ing/ n.
[from `phone phreak'] 1.
The art and science of cracking the phone network... - down
1. adj. Not operating. "The up escalator is down"
is considered a humorous thing to say (unless of course you were
expecting to use it),
and "The elevator is down" always means "The elevator... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - metasyntactic variable n.
A name used in examples and
understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion,
or any random member of a class of things under... - ADVENT: /ad'vent/ n. The prototypical computer adventure game,
first implemented on the {PDP-10} by Will Crowther...
From the same category:
- EMACS /ee'maks/ n.
[from Editing MACroS] The ne plus
ultra of hacker editors,
a programmable text editor with an entire LISP system... - FUBAR n.
The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX.
A good example of how jargon can occasionally be... - J. Random /J rand'm/ n.
[common; generalized from
J.
Random Hacker] Arbitrary; ordinary; any one; any old... - lossage /los'*j/ n.
[very common] The result of a bug
or malfunction.
This is a mass or collective noun. "What a loss... - shotgun debugging n.
The software equivalent of Easter egging;
the making of relatively undirected changes to ...
