\begin{David}
> There is all this jargon that you guys throw around with gay
> abandon.
the indented blocks below are from the "free online dictionary of
computing"
(there's probably a web page somewhere, i'm just using the "dict"
command)
> What the hell is a wrapper? (fantales?)...
wrapper
<programming> Code which is combined with another piece of
{code} to determine how that code is executed. The wrapper
acts as an interface between its caller and the wrapped code.
This may be done for compatibility, e.g. if the wrapped code
is in a different programming language or uses different
calling conventions, or for security, e.g. to prevent the
calling program from executing certain functions. The
implication is that the wrapped code can only be accessed via
the wrapper.
often a "shell wrapper" since munging command line options, etc then
running the real command is usually a one or two line shell script.
an eg:
in a file called mozilla.sh (completely untested bodgy script):
#! /bin/sh
if [ "$1" = -display ]; then
DISPLAY=$2; export DISPLAY; shift; shift
fi
exec /usr/bin/mozilla "$@"
then use "mozilla.sh" everywhere you used to use "mozilla". it adds
(limited) support for the standard "-display" option to mozilla,
simply by doing what mozilla should do itself.
> what are curses? (dumb question?)
curses
A set of subroutines in {Unix} for handling navigation on a
terminal screen using the cursor.
basically anything you see that has "text graphics" (windows,
textboxes, etc) is probably using the curses library.
also called "ncurses", since that is the (better) version that linux
(and now nearly everyone else too) uses.
another similar (but different) library is "slang", so you might see
that one mentioned sometimes too. iirc, slang supports colour a little
better than ncurses.
> ... and lets not even *start* on acronyms....
> Is there a resource for someone to go look it up when the geeks are
> talking greek? What we used to call a "glossary"?
dict, as i used above. the tool comes from www.dict.org, i think they
have the dictionaries available online too?
otherwise, find "the jargon file" maintained by esr (do a web search).
else just ask.
--
- Gus
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