The New Hacker's Dictionary

fireworks mode // n.

1. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when it is performing a crash and burn operation.

2. There is (or was) a more specific meaning of this term in the Amiga community. The word fireworks described the effects of a particularly serious crash which prevented the video pointer(s) from getting reset at the start of the vertical blank. This caused the DAC to scroll through the entire contents of CHIP (video or video+CPU) memory. Since each bit plane would scroll separately this was quite a spectacular effect.

firmware /ferm'weir/ n.

Embedded software contained in EPROM or flash memory. It isn't quite hardware, but at least doesn't have to be loaded from a disk like regular software. Hacker usage differs from straight techspeak in that hackers don't normally apply it to stuff that you can't possibly get at, such as the program that runs a pocket calculator. Instead, it implies that the firmware could be changed, even if doing so would mean opening a box and plugging in a new chip. A computer's BIOS is the classic example, although nowadays there is firmware in disk controllers, modems, video cards and even CD-ROM drives.

firmy /fer'mee/ n.

syn. stiffy (a 3.5-inch floppy disk).

fish // n.

[Adelaide University, Australia]

1. Another metasyntactic variable. See foo. Derived originally from the Monty Python skit in the middle of "The Meaning of Life" entitled "Find the Fish".

2. A pun for 'microfiche'. A microfiche file cabinet may be referred to as a 'fish tank'.

FISH queue // n.

[acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)] 'First In, Still Here'. A joking way of pointing out that processing of a particular sequence of events or requests has stopped dead. Also 'FISH mode' and 'FISHnet'; the latter may be applied to any network that is running really slowly or exhibiting extreme flakiness.

FITNR // adj.

[Thinking Machines, Inc.] Fixed In The Next Release. A written-only notation attached to bug reports. Often wishful thinking.