dd /dee-dee/ vt.
[Unix: from IBM JCL] Equivalent to
cat or BLT. Originally the name of a Unix copy command
with special options suitable for block-oriented devices; it was
often used in heavy-handed system maintenance, as in "Let's
dd the root partition onto a tape, then use the boot PROM to
load it back on to a new disk". The Unix dd(1) was
designed with a weird, distinctly non-Unixy keyword option syntax
reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL (which had an elaborate DD
`Dataset Definition' specification for I/O devices); though the
command filled a need, the interface design was clearly a prank.
The jargon usage is now very rare outside Unix sites and now nearly
obsolete even there, as dd(1) has been deprecated for a
long time (though it has no exact replacement). The term has been
displaced by BLT or simple English `copy'.
[Unix: from IBM JCL] Equivalent to
cat or BLT. Originally the name of a Unix copy command
with special options suitable for block-oriented devices; it was
often used in heavy-handed system maintenance, as in "Let's
dd the root partition onto a tape, then use the boot PROM to
load it back on to a new disk". The Unix dd(1) was
designed with a weird, distinctly non-Unixy keyword option syntax
reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL (which had an elaborate DD
`Dataset Definition' specification for I/O devices); though the
command filled a need, the interface design was clearly a prank.
The jargon usage is now very rare outside Unix sites and now nearly
obsolete even there, as dd(1) has been deprecated for a
long time (though it has no exact replacement). The term has been
displaced by BLT or simple English `copy'.
Related:
- dd /dee-dee/ vt.
[Unix: from IBM JCL] Equivalent to
cat or BLT.
Originally the name of a Unix copy command with... - cat: [from `catenate' via {{UNIX}} `cat(1)'] vt.
1.
[techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or... - cat [from `catenate' via Unix cat(1)] vt.
1. [techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or some other
output sink without pause.
2. By extension, to dump large amounts of data at... - swab: /swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 `SWAp Byte'
instruction,
as immortalized in the `dd(1)' option `conv=swab' ... - 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... - flush v.
1. [common] To delete something, usually
superfluous,
or to abort an operation. "All that nonsense has ... - flush: v. 1. To delete something, usually superfluous,
or to abort an operation. "All that nonsense has... - blit /blit/ vt.
1. [common] To copy a large array of
bits from one part of a computer's memory to another part,
particularly when the memory is being used to determine... - JCL /J-C-L/ n.
1. IBM's supremely rude Job Control
Language.
JCL is the script language used to control the execution...
From the same category:
- console n.
1. The operator's station of a mainframe.
In times past, this was a privileged location that... - netter n.
1. Loosely, anyone with a network address.
2. More specifically, a Usenet regular. Most often... - ELIZA effect /*-li:'z* *-fekt'/ n.
[AI community] The
tendency of humans to attach associations to terms from prior
experience.
For example, there is nothing magic about the symbol... - El Camino Bignum /el' k*-mee'noh big'nuhm/ n.
The road
mundanely called El Camino Real,
running along San Francisco peninsula. It originally... - ware suff.
[from `software'] Commonly used to form
jargon terms for classes of software.
For examples, see annoyware, careware, crippleware...
