Alick Glennie

In 1952, Alick Glennie, who wrote the first computer compiler, defeated Alan Turing's chess program, TurboChamp. Alick was the first person to beat a computer program at chess.

The Hackers Manifesto

The Hackers Manifesto is a small article written in 1986 by a hacker who went by the pseudonym of "The Mentor". The article is considered an important item of hacker culture, and it gives an insight into the psychology of early hackers.

Alan Turing

In 1946, Alan Turing made his first reference to machine intelligence in connection with chess-playing and in the following year specified the first program for chess. In 1950, he wrote the first computer chess program, and in the same year, proposed the Turing Test that in time, a computer could be programmed to acquire abilities that would rival human intelligence.

NEC Turbografx-16

The NEC Turbografx-16, which was released in Japan in 1988 as the PC-Engine, was the first system to have a CD player attachment. It had an 8-bit CPU with a 16-bit graphics chip.

Cationic Cocktail

Cationic cocktail is a diluted fabric softener sprayed on computer room carpets to prevent static electricity from being built up by feet shuffling on carpet. It is also referred to as Downy cocktail.

Byzantine

A term used to describe any system that has so many labyrinthine internal interconnections that it would be impossible to simplify by separation into loosely coupled or linked components.

Casting the Runes

Casting the runes: What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program because it never works for anyone else. The word is especially used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what everyone else has done.

Wrackground Image

Wrackground image is a background image or texture that ruins a Web page by making the text unreadable.

Chiclet Keyboard

A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of chewing gum. (Chiclets is the brand name of a variety of chewing gum that resemble the keys of chiclet keyboards).

Body Shopper

A contractor in a Developing or Third World country who recruits local programmers and shops them around to software companies located especially in North America and Europe.