AI (Artificial
Intelligence)
Thinking, reasoning computers/programs.
NexusOne note:
The Matrix was created after a war between man and AI.AKA, alias
As Know As
NexusOne note:
Like Mr. Anderson AKA Neo.
artificial life
Thinking, reasoning computers/programs (also called AI).
artificial reality
Similar to virtual reality but more interactive, with the
participant being part of, not just experiencing, the
artificial environment.
NexusOne note:
In two words, The Matrix.
bug
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware, esp. one that causes it to
malfunction. Antonym of feature. Examples: "There's
a bug in the editor: it writes things out
backwards." "The system crashed because of a
hardware bug." "Fred is a winner, but he has a
few bugs" (i.e., Fred is a good guy, but he has a
few personality problems).
NexusOne note:
For who doesn't understand why when Neo was 'bugged"
he had a "bug" in intestines.
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 an unprepared target or
with no intention of browsing it carefully. Usage:
considered silly. Rare outside Unix sites.
NexusOne note:
The "deja vu" happens when Neo saw a black cat
twice.
codes
[scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in
people who hack super computers and heavy-duty
number-crunching, rare to unknown elsewhere (if you say
"codes" to hackers outside scientific
computing, their first association is likely to be
"and cyphers").
cookie
A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement
between cooperating programs. "I give him a packet,
he gives me back a cookie." The claim check you get
from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfect mundane example of
a cookie; the only thing it's useful for is to relate a
later transaction to this one (so you get the same
clothes back).
NexusOne note:
The Oracle says to Neo: "Here, take a cookie. I
promise, by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel
right as rain." Hmmmm...
cracker
One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985
by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of
hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish
`worm' in this sense around 1981-82 on Usenet was largely
a failure.
Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion
against the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking
rings. While it is expected that any real hacker will
have done some playful cracking and knows many of the
basic techniques, anyone past larval stage is expected to
have outgrown the desire to do so except for immediate,
benign, practical reasons (for example, if it's necessary
to get around some security in order to get some work
done).
crash
1. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of
the system (q.v., sense 1), esp. of magnetic disk drives
(the term originally described what happens when the air
gap of a hard disk collapses).
NexusOne note:
Do you remember Cypher was in a car crash scene when
called Tank?
cyber
A prefix taken from cybernetics. Generally used in
popular culture to mean anything that is technology
oriented.
cyberculture
Often used in the media to denote aspects of "life
as a cyberpunk". Yet if we are to follow strict
meaning, cyberculture is more accurately defined as an
information-based culture.
cyberdeck
Term originated by William Gibson, to refer to a computer
that can connect to the matrix.
NexusOne note:
remember when Morpheos says "Dozer, when you're
done, bring the ship up to broadcast depth." We can
conclude that Tank's "command center" in
Nebuchadnezzar is a cyberdeck.
cybernaut
Someone who moves in cyberspace.
cybernetics
The study of communication systems in living organisms
and machines, the mathematical analysis of the flow of
information.
cyberpunk
Began as a literary movement in the 80's, an off-shot of
normal science fiction. Unique in that it generally
occurs in the present or not so distant future, the
characters are often considered "punks" (social
deviants) and technology (the cyber aspect) is prominent.
Is special in that it has evolved from a purely literay
movement to a realistic subculture. Many
"techno-punks" (i.e. hackers) are considered
cyberpunks.
cyberspace
1. Notional `information-space' loaded with visual cues
and navigable with brain-computer interfaces called
`cyberspace decks'; a characteristic prop of cyberpunk
SF. Serious efforts to construct virtual reality
interfaces modeled explicitly on Gibsonian cyberspace are
under way, using more conventional devices such as glove
sensors and binocular TV headsets. Few hackers are
prepared to deny outright the possibility of a cyberspace
someday evolving out of the network (see the network).
2. The Internet or Matrix (sense #2) as a whole,
considered as a crude cyberspace (sense 1).
cypherpunk
Net person who has evolved from hacking to encryption and
concern with creating multiple identities.
NexusOne note:
The bad guy in Morpheo's crew, the traitor was named
"Cypher"
designer drugs
Drugs taken to enhance the experience of virtual realism
or to cause euphoria.
NexusOne note:
Remember the red pill or the blue pill? Or the Choi's
comment about mescaline.
glitch /glich/
[very common; from German `glitschig' to slip, via
Yiddish `glitshen', to slide or skid] 1. A sudden
interruption in electric service, sanity, continuity, or
program function. Sometimes recoverable. An interruption
in electric service is specifically called a `power
glitch' (also power hit), of grave concern because it
usually crashes all the computers. In jargon, though, a
hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and then
forgot how he or she intended to complete it might say,
"Sorry, I just glitched". 2. Same as magic
cookie. Some older terminals would leave a blank on the
screen corresponding to mode-change magic cookies; this
was also called a glitch.
NexusOne note:
After the Oracle gave a cookie to Neo, when they are
turning back to building, The Matrix had a
"glitch" and that the reason Neo had a
"deja vu" with the black cat. (Interesting
theory, don't you think?)
grep
Search, or scan.
grid
The term for cyberspace used in Shadowrun.
grok
Word with roots in shamanism that akin to gnow, and
implies thorough and complete holistic understanding.
Popularized by Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange
Land.
hacker
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1.
A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable
systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed
to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum
necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even
obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just
theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of
appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at
programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular
program, or one who frequently does work using it or on
it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are
correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An
expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an
astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the
intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or
circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious
meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by
poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'.
The correct term for this sense is cracker.
hardwired
Anything that is not removable, especially with reference
to permanent implants.
NexusOne note:
The "holes" or "plugs" in Neo (and
the others).
identity hacking
The use of pseudo-anonymity or false accounts to put
oneself off as another person on the Internet.
NexusOne note:
Agent Smith refers to "The other life is lived in
computers, where you go by the hacker alias Neo and are
guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law
for." (see also AKA)
intel
(intelligence)
Information which is usually traded. Popularized in Neal
Stephenson's Snow Crash.
interactive
When people communicate, especially within virtual space.
interface
The visual part of a program/system the user experiences,
eg what you are looking at now is the interface of your
IRC program.
jacking in
connecting to cyberspace, typically via plug in.
NexusOne note:
Well, everybody who born in Matrix have plugs! When they
are "plugged" in The Matrix, we can tell they
are jacking in. Morpheos sayd "We're in" when
they went to see the Oracle.
jock
1. A programmer who is characterized by large and
somewhat brute-force programs. 2. When modified by
another noun, describes a specialist in some particular
computing area. The compounds `compiler jock' and
`systems jock' seem to be the best-established examples.
knowbot -
/robots/
Provides a uniform user interface to heterogenous remote
information services. A predecesor to the Intelligent
Agent.
NexusOne note:
That's my favourite! The "Agents" it's not only
because they looks like CIA or FBI agents (or "men
in black"), but because they're "bots".
KPPR - (Key Press
Password Recorder)
A tiny hacking program that is laoded into a computer and
then records every key that is pressed. Used to find out
login usernames, and passwords (also called Trojan
hoarse, Stealth Password Recorder, Key/Keypress Capturer,
Password Recorder, Password Sniffer, Password Snooper and
Login Spoof).
Legba
The loa of the loas. He is the lord of interceptions,
and since the matrix consists of thousands of
"crossroads" he is, in Gibson's trilogy, the
lord of the matrix.
NexusOne note:
THIS make me thing... maybe in Matrix II (if really
happens) we'll have noticed about this figure.
loa
Divinity in the Haitian voodoo-religion Voudoun. In
Gibson's trilogy the entity of the united matrix (after
Wintermute united it) split and took the forms of the
several loas.
mainframe
Term originally referring to the cabinet containing the
central processor unit or `main frame' of a room-filling
Stone Age batch machine. After the emergence of smaller
`minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the
traditional big iron machines were described as
`mainframe computers' and eventually just as mainframes.
The term carries the connotation of a machine designed
for batch rather than interactive use, though possibly
with an interactive timesharing operating system
retrofitted onto it; it is especially used of machines
built by IBM, Unisys, and the other great dinosaurs
surviving from computing's Stone Age.
NexusOne note:
Tank mentioned Morpheos (as others resistances leaders)
have the access codes to the Zion's
Mainframe.
matrix
1. Term, coined by William Gibson, reffering to
cyberspace. 2. Fanciful term for a cyberspace expected to
emerge from current networking experiments (see the
network). 3. The totality of present-day computer
networks (popularized in this sense by John Quarterman;
rare outside academic literature).
NexusOne note:
do you think you need aditional comments?
mickey mouse
program
North American equivalent of a noddy (that is, trivial)
program. Doesn't necessarily have the belittling
connotations of mainstream slang "Oh, that's just
mickey mouse stuff!"; sometimes trivial programs can
be very useful.
NexusOne note:
I put this here just to think about the character
"Mouse", because the analogy with the
"computer's mouse" seems not enough for me.
network, the
The union of all the major noncommercial, academic, and
hacker-oriented networks, such as Internet, the pre-1990
ARPANET, NSFnet, BITNET, and the virtual UUCP and Usenet
`networks', plus the corporate in-house networks and
commercial time-sharing services. In this sense, `the
network' is often abbreviated to `the net'.
P.O.D.
[rare] Acronym for `Piece Of Data' (as opposed to a code
section).
rabbit job
[Cambridge] A batch job that does little, if any, real
work, but creates one or more copies of itself, breeding
like rabbits.
NexusOne note:
Follow the white rabbit! (see also wabbit)
tanked
1. Same as down, used primarily by Unix hackers. 2. Not
operating. It's used to say a system is down, or a
computer is down.
NexusOne note:
I wasn't satisfied with the explanation about Tank and
Dozer. I know these names are from war weapons, but I
felt could be something more. This definition makes more
sense. Tank is the 'operator" because he is unable
to be plugged into Matrix. He is "down".
trap
1. A program interrupt, usually an interrupt caused by
some exceptional situation in the user program. In most
cases, the OS performs some action, then returns control
to the program. 2. To cause a trap. "These
instructions trap to the monitor." Also used
transitively to indicate the cause of the trap. "The
monitor traps all input/output instructions."
NexusOne note:
I like this definition because when they're in the
building, they're "trapped".
wabbit
/wab'it/
[almost certainly from Elmer Fudd's immortal line
"You wascawwy wabbit!"] 1. A legendary early
hack reported on a System/360 at RPI and elsewhere around
1978; this may have descended (if only by inspiration)
from a hack called RABBITS reported from 1969 on a
Burroughs 5500 at the University of Washington Computer
Center. The program would make two copies of itself every
time it was run, eventually crashing the system.
NexusOne note:
The "wabbits" are also called "cookie
monsters". It's a virus.
wizard
1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or
hardware works (that is, who groks it); esp. someone who
can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is
a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is
a wizard with respect to something only if he or she has
specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker
could become a wizard for something given the time to
study it. 2. A person who is permitted to do things
forbidden to ordinary people; one who has
wheel privileges on a system. 3. A Unix expert, esp. a
Unix systems programmer.
NexusOne note:
Now we have a second meaning for "Mr. Wizard".
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