The Jargon Lexicon
= Y =
=====
YA-: abbrev. [Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost
invariably expands to {Yet Another}, following the precedent set
by UNIX `yacc(1)' (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler). See
{YABA}.
YABA: /ya'b*/ n. [Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym.
Whenever some program is being named, someone invariably suggests
that it be given a name that is acronymic. The response from those
with a trace of originality is to remark ironically that the
proposed name would then be `YABA-compatible'. Also used in
response to questions like "What is WYSIWYG?" See also
{TLA}.
YAFIYGI: /yaf'ee-y*-gee/ adj. [coined in response to
WYSIWYG] Describes the command-oriented ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of
word processing or other user interface, the opposite of
{WYSIWYG}. Stands for "You asked for it, you got it", because
what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long after
it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote perversity
("Real Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and *like* it!")
or, less often, a necessary tradeoff ("Only a YAFIYGI tool can
have full programmable flexibility in its interface.").
This precise sense of "You asked for it, you got it" seems to
have first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody "Real
Programmers don't use Pascal"; the acronym is a more recent (as of
1993) invention.
YAUN: /yawn/ n. [Acronym for `Yet Another UNIX Nerd']
Reported from the San Diego Computer Society (predominantly a
microcomputer users' group) as a good-natured punning insult aimed
at UNIX zealots.
Yellow Book: n. [proposed] The print version of this Jargon
File; "The New Hacker's Dictionary", MIT Press, 1991 (ISBN
0-262-68069-6). Includes all the material in the 2.9.6 version of
the File, plus a Foreword by Guy L. Steele Jr. and a Preface by
Eric S. Raymond. Most importantly, the book version is nicely
typeset and includes almost all of the infamous Crunchly cartoons
by the Great Quux, each attached to an appropriate entry. The
second edition corresponds to the Jargon File 3.0.0.
yellow wire: n. [IBM] Repair wires used when connectors
(especially ribbon connectors) got broken due to some schlemiel
pinching them, or to reconnect cut traces after the FE mistakenly
cut one. Compare {blue wire}, {purple wire}, {red wire}.
Yet Another: adj. [From UNIX's `yacc(1)', `Yet
Another Compiler-Compiler', a LALR parser generator] 1. Of your own
work: A humorous allusion often used in titles to acknowledge that
the topic is not original, though the content is. As in `Yet
Another AI Group' or `Yet Another Simulated Annealing Algorithm'.
2. Of others' work: Describes something of which there are already
far too many. See also {YA-}, {YABA}, {YAUN}.
YKYBHTLW: abbrev. // Abbreviation of `You know you've been
hacking too long when...', which became established on the Usenet
group alt.folklore.computers during extended discussion of the
indicated entry in the Jargon File.
YMMV: cav. Written-only abbreviation for {Your mileage
may vary}.
You are not expected to understand this: [UNIX] cav. The
canonical comment describing something {magic} or too
complicated to bother explaining properly. From an infamous
comment in the context-switching code of the V6 UNIX kernel.
You know you've been hacking too long when...: The
set-up line for a genre of one-liners told by hackers about
themselves. These include the following:
* not only do you check your email more often than your paper
mail, but you remember your {network address} faster than your
postal one.
* your {SO} kisses you on the neck and the first thing you
think is "Uh, oh, {priority interrupt}."
* you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're
doing it in octal.
* your computers have a higher street value than your car.
* in your universe, `round numbers' are powers of 2, not 10.
* more than once, you have woken up recalling a dream in
some programming language.
* you realize you have never seen half of your best friends.
[An early version of this entry said "All but one of these
have been reliably reported as hacker traits (some of them quite
often). Even hackers may have trouble spotting the ringer." The
ringer was balancing one's checkbook in octal, which I made up out
of whole cloth. Although more respondents picked that one
out as fiction than any of the others, I also received multiple
independent reports of its actually happening, most famously
to Grace Hopper while she was working with BINAC in 1949. -- ESR]
Your mileage may vary: cav. [from the standard disclaimer
attached to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] 1. A
ritual warning often found in UNIX freeware distributions.
Translates roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this portably, but
who *knows* what'll happen on your system?" 2. More
generally, a qualifier attached to advice. "I find that sending
flowers works well, but your mileage may vary."
Yow!: /yow/ interj. [from "Zippy the Pinhead" comix] A
favored hacker expression of humorous surprise or emphasis. "Yow!
Check out what happens when you twiddle the foo option on this
display hack!" Compare {gurfle}.
yoyo mode: n. The state in which the system is said to be
when it rapidly alternates several times between being up and being
down. Interestingly (and perhaps not by coincidence), many
hardware vendors give out free yoyos at Usenix exhibits.
Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88. Tourists
staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were
subsequently treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top
computer scientists testing yo-yo algorithms in the lobby.
Yu-Shiang Whole Fish: /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ n.,obs. The
character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 0001001), which with a loop in
its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term
is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked
whole (not {parse}d) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang)
sauce. usage: primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which
could display this character on the screen. Tends to elicit
incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand.