:TANSTAAFL: /tan'stah-fl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's
classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No
Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking
at the prospect of using an unpleasantly {heavyweight}
technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software,
or at the {signal-to-noise ratio} of unmoderated USENET
newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database
back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well,
TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to
the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political
libertarians in hackerdom (see {Appendix B}).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No
Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking
at the prospect of using an unpleasantly {heavyweight}
technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software,
or at the {signal-to-noise ratio} of unmoderated USENET
newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database
back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well,
TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to
the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political
libertarians in hackerdom (see {Appendix B}).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- TANSTAAFL /tan'stah-fl/
[acronym, from Robert Heinlein's
classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No
Such Thing As A Free Lunch",
often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect... - signal-to-noise ratio: [from analog electronics] n.
Used by hackers in a generalization of its technical... - signal-to-noise ratio [from analog electronics] n.
Used by
hackers in a generalization of its technical meaning.
`Signal' refers to useful information conveyed by... - network address: n. (also `net address') As used by hackers,
means an address on `the' network (see {network, the}... - newsgroup: [USENET] n. One of {USENET}'s huge collection of
topic groups or {fora}.
Usenet groups can be `unmoderated' (anyone can post)... - GNU: /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym: `GNU's Not UNIX!',
see {{recursive acronym}}] A UNIX-workalike development... - In ecology, as in economics, TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free
Lunch) is intended to warn that every gain is won at some cost.
Failure to recognize the no free lunch law causes... - front end: n. 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and
filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly)
machine (a `back end').
2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation... - flamage: /flay'm*j/ n. Flaming verbiage, esp. high-noise,
low-signal postings to {USENET} or other electronic...
From the same category:
- olfactory:
an ancient mill... - James Bond rules
00K... - If two apples make a pair,
how come two ferrets make a full... - Hillary Clinton's favorite breakfast?
Shredded wheat... - Memory is the ghost of
experience...
