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code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like this. |
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shell out n. [Unix] To spawn an interactive subshell from within a program (e.g., a mailer or editor). ''Bang foo runs foo in a subshell, while bang alone shells out." |
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shift left (or right) logical [from any of various machines' instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of the way. 2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat! You can shift to that empty one to the left (right)." Often used without the logical, or as left shift instead of shift left. Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/, from the PDP-10 instruction set. See Programmer's Cheer. |
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shim n. A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, in split I&D (instructions and data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with the C null pointer). See also loose bytes. |
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shitogram /shit'oh-gram/ n. A really nasty piece of email. Compare nastygram, flame. |
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short card n. A half-length IBM XT expansion card or adapter that will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives). See also tall card. |
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shotgun debugging n. The software equivalent of Easter egging; the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs. |
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shovelware /shuh'v l-weir`/ n. Extra software dumped onto a CD-ROM or tape to fill up the remaining space on the medium after the software distribution it's intended to carry, but not integrated with the distribution. |
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showstopper n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes an implementation effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to be fixed before development can go on. Opposite in connotation from its original theatrical use, which refers to something stunningly good. |
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shriek n. See excl. Occasional CMU usage, also in common use among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists. |
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