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CTY /sit'ee/ or /C-T-Y/ n. [MIT] The terminal physically associated with a computer's system console. The term is a contraction of 'Console tty', that is, 'Console TeleTYpe'. This ITS- and TOPS-10-associated term has become less common, as most Unix hackers simply refer to the CTY as 'the console'. |
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cube n. 1. [short for 'cubicle'] A module in the open-plan offices used at many programming shops. "I've got the manuals in my cube." 2. A NeXT machine (which resembles a matte-black cube). |
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cubing vi. [parallel with 'tubing'] 1. Hacking on an IPSC (Intel Personal SuperComputer) hypercube. "Louella's gone cubing again!!" 2. Hacking Rubik's Cube or related puzzles, either physically or mathematically. 3. An indescribable form of self-torture (see sense 1 or 2). |
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cursor dipped in X n. There are a couple of metaphors in English of the form 'pen dipped in X' (perhaps the most common values of X are 'acid', 'bile', and 'vitriol'). These map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, when one is composing on-line). "Talk about a nastygram! He must've had his cursor dipped in acid when he wrote that one!" |
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cuspy /kuhs'pee/ adj. [WPI: from the DEC abbreviation CUSP, for 'Commonly Used System Program', i.e., a utility program used by many people] 1. (of a program) Well-written. 2. Functionally excellent. A program that performs well and interfaces well to users is cuspy. See rude. 3. [NYU] Said of an attractive woman, especially one regarded as available. Implies a certain curvaceousness. |
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cut a tape vi. To write a software or document distribution on magnetic tape for shipment. Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Early versions of this lexicon claimed that one never analogously speaks of 'cutting a disk', but this has since been reported as live usage. Related slang usages are mainstream business's 'cut a check', the recording industry's 'cut a record', and the military's 'cut an order'. |
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All of these usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording and duplication technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an old-style vinyl record involved cutting grooves in a stamping die with a precision lathe. More mundanely, the dominant technology for mass duplication of paper documents in pre-photocopying days involved "cutting a stencil", punching away portions of the wax overlay on a silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes punched in it was an important early storage medium. |
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