Short for `application program', as opposed to a systems program. Apps
are what systems vendors are forever chasing developers to create for
their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers tend not to
think of the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in hacker
parlance the term excludes compilers, program editors, games, and
messaging systems, though a user would consider all those to be apps.
(Broadly, an app is often a self-contained environment for performing
some well-defined task such as `word processing'; hackers tend to
prefer more general-purpose tools.) See [576]killer app; oppose
[577]tool, [578]operating system.
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Node:arena, Next:[579]arg, Previous:[580]app, Up:[581]= A =

arena n.

[common; Unix] The area of memory attached to a process by brk(2) and
sbrk(2) and used by malloc(3) as dynamic storage. So named from a
malloc: corrupt arena message emitted when some early versions
detected an impossible value in the free block list. See [582]overrun
screw, [583]aliasing bug, [584]memory leak, [585]memory smash,
[586]smash the stack.
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Node:arg, Next:[587]ARMM, Previous:[588]arena, Up:[589]= A =

arg /arg/ n.

Abbreviation for `argument' (to a function), used so often as to have
become a new word (like `piano' from `pianoforte'). "The sine function