xyzzy /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/
adj.
[from the ADVENT game] The canonical `magic
word'. This comes from ADVENT, in which the idea is to
explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the
treasures you find there. If you type `xyzzy' at the appropriate
time, you can move instantly between two otherwise distant points.
If, therefore, you encounter some bit of magic, you might
remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy!"
"Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he has
protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will
let you do it anyway." "Xyzzy!" It's traditional for xyzzy
to be an Easter egg in games with text interfaces.
Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op
command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it
would typically respond "Nothing happens", just as ADVENT
did if the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player
had performed the action that enabled the word. In more recent
32-bit versions, by the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much
happens".
Early versions of the popular `minesweeper' game under Microsoft
Windows has a cheat mode triggered by the command
`xyzzy<enter><right-shift>' that turns the top-left pixel of the
screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is
over a bomb. This feature seems to be gone in the 32-bit (Windows
98 and later) versions.
adj.
[from the ADVENT game] The canonical `magic
word'. This comes from ADVENT, in which the idea is to
explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the
treasures you find there. If you type `xyzzy' at the appropriate
time, you can move instantly between two otherwise distant points.
If, therefore, you encounter some bit of magic, you might
remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy!"
"Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he has
protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will
let you do it anyway." "Xyzzy!" It's traditional for xyzzy
to be an Easter egg in games with text interfaces.
Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op
command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it
would typically respond "Nothing happens", just as ADVENT
did if the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player
had performed the action that enabled the word. In more recent
32-bit versions, by the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much
happens".
Early versions of the popular `minesweeper' game under Microsoft
Windows has a cheat mode triggered by the command
`xyzzy<enter><right-shift>' that turns the top-left pixel of the
screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is
over a bomb. This feature seems to be gone in the 32-bit (Windows
98 and later) versions.
Related:
- xyzzy: /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/
[from the ADVENT game] adj.
The {canonical} `magic word'. This comes from {ADVENT}, in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there.... - ADVENT /ad'vent/ n.
The prototypical computer
adventure game
first designed by Will Crowther on the PDP-10 in the mid-1970s as an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming, and expanded into a puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods at Stanford in 1976.... - ADVENT: /ad'vent/ n. The prototypical computer adventure game
first implemented on the {PDP-10} by Will Crowther as an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming, and expanded into a puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods.... - The magic word is: xyzzy
- pace-cadet keyboard n.
A now-legendary device used on MIT
LISP machines, which inspired several still-current jargon terms
and influenced the design of EMACS.
It was equipped with no fewer than seven shift key... - plugh /ploogh/ v. [from the ADVENT game] See xyzzy.
- double bucky adj.
Using both the CTRL and META keys.
The command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F.... - alk mode n.
A feature supported by Unix, ITS, and some
other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a
real-time on-line conversation.
It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails.... - 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 on the standard list of metasyntactic variables used in syntax examples....
