The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Various
page 72 of 1403 (05%)
page 72 of 1403 (05%)
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Node:ABEND, Next:[314]accumulator, Previous:[315]abbrev, Up:[316]= A = ABEND /a'bend/, /*-bend'/ n. [ABnormal END] 1. Abnormal termination (of software); [317]crash; [318]lossage. Derives from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but seriously mainly by [319]code grinders. Usually capitalized, but may appear as `abend'. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called `abend' because it is what system operators do to the machine late on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the German `Abend' = `Evening'. 2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation - used in the subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of Internet access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND = `Absent By Voluntary Net Deprivation' and ABSEND = `Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation' have been sighted. _________________________________________________________________ Node:accumulator, Next:[320]ACK, Previous:[321]ABEND, Up:[322]= A = accumulator n. obs. 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it as a synonym for `register' is a fairly reliable indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or that the architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example, though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in `A' derive from historical use of the term `accumulator' |
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