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Confusingly, hackers often use K or M as though they were suffix or numeric multipliers rather than a prefix; thus "2K dollars", "2M of disk space". This is also true (though less commonly) of G. |
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Note that the formal SI metric prefix for 1000 is 'k'; some use this strictly, reserving 'K' for multiplication by 1024 (KB is thus 'kilobytes'). |
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K, M, and G used alone refer to quantities of bytes; thus, 64G is 64 gigabytes and 'a K' is a kilobyte (compare mainstream use of 'a G' as short for 'a grand', that is, $1000). Whether one pronounces 'gig' with hard or soft 'g' depends on what one thinks the proper pronunciation of 'giga-' is. |
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Confusing 1000 and 1024 (or other powers of 2 and 10 close in magnitude) for example, describing a memory in units of 500K or 524K instead of 512K is a sure sign of the marketroid. One example of this: it is common to refer to the capacity of 3.5" microfloppies as '1.44 MB' In fact, this is a completely bogus number. The correct size is 1440 KB, that is, 1440 * 1024 = 1474560 bytes. So the 'mega' in '1.44 MB' is compounded of two 'kilos', one of which is 1024 and the other of which is 1000. The correct number of megabytes would of course be 1440 / 1024 = 1.40625. Alas, this fine point is probably lost on the world forever. |
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[1993 update: hacker Morgan Burke has proposed, to general approval on Usenet, the following additional prefixes: |
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We observe that this would leave the prefixes zeppo-, gummo-, and chico-available for future expansion. Sadly, there is little immediate prospect that Mr. Burke's eminently sensible proposal will be ratified.] |
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quantum bogodynamics /kwon'tm boh'goh-di-nam'iks/ n. A theory that characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources (such as politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and suits in general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and computers), and bogosity potential fields. Bogon absorption, of course, causes human beings to behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may also cause both to emit secondary bogons); however, the precise mechanics of the bogon-computron interaction are not yet understood and remain to be elucidated. Quantum bogodynamics is most often invoked to explain the sharp increase in hardware and software failures in the presence of suits; the latter emit bogons, which the former absorb. See bogon, computron, suit, psyton. |
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