The letter W

• wabbit /wab'it/ [almost certainly from Elmer Fudd's immortal
• WAITS /wayts/ n. The mutant cousin of TOPS-10 used on a
• waldo /wol'doh/ [From Robert A. Heinlein's story "Waldo"]
• walk n.,vt. Traversal of a data structure, especially an array or
• walk off the end of vt. To run past the end of an array, list, or
• walking drives n. An occasional failure mode of magnetic-disk
• wall [WPI] interj. 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken
• wall follower n. A person or algorithm that compensates for lack
• wall time n. (also `wall clock time') 1. `Real world' time (what
• wallpaper n. 1. A file containing a listing (e.g., assembly
• wango /wang'goh/ n. Random bit-level grovelling going on in
• wank /wangk/ [Columbia University prob. by mutation from
• wannabee /won'*-bee/ (also, more plausibly, spelled
• warlording [from the USENET group alt.fan.warlord] v. The act
• warm boot n. See boot.
• wart n. A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an
• washing machine n. Old-style 14-inch hard disks in floor-standing
• water MIPS n. (see MIPS, sense 2) Large, water-cooled
• wave a dead chicken v. To perform a ritual in the direction of
• weasel n. [Cambridge] A naive user, one who deliberately or
• wedged adj. 1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without
• wedgie [Fairchild] n. A bug. Prob. related to wedged.
• wedgitude /wedj'i-t[y]ood/ n. The quality or state of being
• weeble /weeb'l/ [Cambridge] interj. Used to denote frustration,
• weeds n. 1. Refers to development projects or algorithms that have
• weenie n. 1. [on BBSes] Any of a species of luser resembling a
• Weenix /wee'niks/ [ITS] n. A derogatory term for UNIX,
• well-behaved adj. 1. [primarily MS-DOS] Said of software
• well-connected adj. Said of a computer installation, asserts
• wetware /wet'weir/ [prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker] n.
• whack v. According to arch-hacker James Gosling, to "...modify a
• whacker [University of Maryland from hacker] n. 1. A person,
• whales n. See like kicking dead whales down the beach.
• whalesong n. The peculiar clicking and whooshing sounds made by a
• What's a spline? [XEROX PARC] This phrase expands to "You have
• wheel [from slang `big wheel' for a powerful person] n. A
• wheel bit n. A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform
• wheel wars [Stanford University] A period in larval stage
• White Book n. 1. Syn. K&R. 2. Adobe's fourth book in the
• whizzy [Sun] adj. (alt. `wizzy') Describes a cuspy program;
• WIBNI // [Bell Labs Wouldn't It Be Nice If] n. What most
• widget n. 1. A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in
• wiggles n. [scientific computation] In solving partial differential
• WIMP environment n. [acronym `Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing
• win [MIT] 1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no unexpected
• win big vi. To experience serendipity. "I went shopping and won
• win win interj. Expresses pleasure at a win.
• Winchester n. Informal generic term for `floating-head'
• window shopping [US Geological Survey] n. Among users of {WIMPenvironment}
• Windoze /win'dohz/ n. See Microsloth Windows.
• winged comments n. Comments set on the same line as code, as
• winkey n. (alt. `winkey face') See emoticon.
• winnage /win'*j/ n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or
• winner 1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer,
• winnitude /win'*-t[y]ood/ n. The quality of winning (as opposed
• wired n. See hardwired.
• wirehead /wir'hed/ n. [prob. from SF slang for an
• wirewater n. Syn. programming fluid. This melds the
• wish list n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably
• within delta of adj. See delta.
• within epsilon of adj. See epsilon.
• wizard n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software
• Wizard Book n. Hal Abelson's, Jerry Sussman's and Julie Sussman's
• wizard mode [from rogue] n. A special access mode of a
• wizardly adj. Pertaining to wizards. A wizardly feature is one
• womb box n. 1. [TMRC] Storage space for equipment. 2. [proposed]
• WOMBAT [Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] adj. Applied to problems
• wonky /wong'kee/ [from Australian slang] adj. Yet another
• woofer [University of Waterloo] n. Some varieties of wide paper
• workaround n. 1. A temporary kluge used to bypass, mask, or
• working as designed [IBM] adj. 1. In conformance to a wrong or
• worm [from `tapeworm' in John Brunner's novel "The
• wound around the axle adj. In an infinite loop. Often used by older
• wrap around vi. (also n. `wraparound' and v. shorthand
• write-only code [a play on `read-only memory'] n. Code so
• write-only language n. A language with syntax (or semantics)
• write-only memory n. The obvious antonym to `read-only
• Wrong Thing n. A design, action, or decision that is clearly
• wugga wugga /wuh'g* wuh'g*/ n. Imaginary sound that a computer
• wumpus /wuhm'p*s/ n. The central monster (and, in many
• WYSIAYG /wiz'ee-ayg/ adj. Describes a user interface under
• WYSIWYG /wiz'ee-wig/ adj. Describes a user interface under

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The letter X