Computing : A Hacker's Dictionary (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Beard & McKie are back. The author and the illustrator who created Sailing (a New York Times bestseller with 710,000 copies in print), as well as Golfing, Fishing, and other well-defined dictionaries--which together have over 2.3 million copies in print--now turn their unflinchingly funny eye to America's newest obsession, computing. For frustrated Web surfers, confused number crunchers, for the crazed the possessed, and the befuddled, it makes perfect fun of the machine we love to hate.

Computing covers it all, from hardware (any portion of a computer system that you can actually smack, thump, slam, punch, bash, whack, or clobber) to program ( a set of instructions for converting informational input into an emotional outburst). There are technical terms--Web browser (an Internet navigation program that gives computer users instant access to more than one billion advertisements); cultural phenomena--techie (a nerd with a Porsche); lingo--e-mail (a highly efficient method of wasting the countless working hours saved by the introduction of data-processing systems); and common words given new meaning in the computer age--instructions (a collection of Finnish proverbs with the words "User's Manual" printed on the cover).

From the Back Cover

Bit, bomb, Boolean logic & the pleasures of multitasking.
A lexicon bringing new meaning to cyberspace.

Including:

Address. The specific place in a computer's memory where a particular item of data has been lost.
Hardware. Any portion of a computer system that you can actually smack, thump, slam, punch, bash, whack, or clobber.
Nerd. A geek with stock options.
Web browser. An Internet navigation program that gives computer users instant access to more than one billion advertisements.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761117741
• ISBN-13: 978-0761117742
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 7.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,750,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a desent book with a"child friendly" cover, May 27, 2001

By A Customer

his book on the hole explains the ones and twos of hacking\learnng the lingo "user friendly"