:shim: n. A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a
desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For
example, the PDP-11 UNIX linker, in split I&D (instructions and
data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so
that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with
the C null pointer). See also {loose bytes}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For
example, the PDP-11 UNIX linker, in split I&D (instructions and
data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so
that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with
the C null pointer). See also {loose bytes}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- shim n.
A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve
a desired memory alignment or other addressing property.
For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, in split I&... - 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 ... - loose bytes: n. Commonwealth hackish term for the padding bytes or
{shim}s many compilers insert between members of a record or
structure to cope with alignment requirements imposed by the
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The AI Hackers... - dev/null: /dev-nuhl/ [from the UNIX null device, used as a data
sink] n.
A notional `black hole' in any information space being... - fence: n. 1. A sequence of one or more distinguished
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used to delimit a piece of data intended to be treated... - magic number n.
[Unix/C; common] 1. In source code,
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on modern architectures this is usually 8 bits,... - P.O.D.: /P-O-D/ Acronym for `Piece Of Data' (as opposed to a
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The string `UNIX' might look like `NUXI' on a machine...
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CON: Not being able to cause general mayhem in your neighborhood.
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and as a pond full of fishes. But each branch of the... - Satanic Verses is a despicable book that could not have been written by
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