<abuse> Someone who's clueless.  From the {World-Wide Web}
	message "404, URL Not Found" meaning that the document you've
	tried to access can't be located.

	"Don't bother asking him...he's 404, man".

	404 is one of the standard response codes of the {telnet}
	{protocol} on which the web's {HTTP} is based.

	The first 4 indicates a client error such as a mistyped URL.
	The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error.  The last 4
	just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which
	also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.

	(2000-03-18)

After-sale handholding; something many software vendors
	promise but few deliver.  To hackers, most support people are
	useless - because by the time a hacker calls support he or she
	will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better
	than the support people (sadly, this is *not* a joke or
	exaggeration).  A hacker's idea of "support" is a tte--tte
	or exchange of {electronic mail} with the software's designer.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-02-15)

<file system> An elementary unit of allocation of a disk made
	up of one or more physical {blocks}.

	A {file} is made up of a whole number of possibly
	non-contiguous clusters.  The cluster size is a tradeoff
	between space efficiency (the bigger is the cluster, the
	bigger is on the average the wasted space at the end of each
	file) and the length of the {FAT}.

	(1996-11-04)

<software> (Or "option", "flag", "switch", "option switch") An
	argument to a command that modifies its function rather than
	providing data.  Options generally start with "-" in {Unix} or
	"/" in {MS-DOS}.  This is usually followed by a single letter
	or occasionally a digit.

	Some commands require each option to be a separate argument,
	introduced by a new "-" or "/", others allow multiple option
	letters to be concatenated into a single argument with a
	single "-" or "/", e.g. "ls -al".  A few Unix commands
	(e.g. {ar}, {tar}) allow the "-" to be omitted.  Some options
	may or must be followed by a value, e.g. "cc prog.c -o prog",
	sometimes with and sometimes without an intervening space.

	{getopt} and {getopts} are commands for parsing command line
	options.  There is also a {C} library routine called getopt
	for the same purpose.

	(1996-12-11)

<specification, business, programming> (EJB) A {server}-side
	{component architecture} for writing reusable {business logic}
	and {portable} {enterprise} applications.  EJB is the basis of
	{Sun}'s {Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition} (J2EE).

	Enterprise JavaBean components are written entirely in {Java}
	and run on any EJB compliant server.  They are {operating
	system}, {platform}, and {middleware} independent, preventing
	vendor {lock-in}.

	EJB servers provide system-level services (the "plumbing")
	such as {transactions}, security, {threading}, and
	{persistence}.

	The EJB architecture is inherently transactional,
	{distributed}, {multi-tier}, {scalable}, secure, and {wire
	protocol} neutral - any {protocol} can be used: {IIOP},
	{JRMP}, {HTTP}, {DCOM} etc.  EJB 1.1 requires {RMI} for
	communication with components.  EJB 2.0 is expected to require
	support for RMI/IIOP.

	EJB applications can serve assorted clients: {browsers}, Java,
	{ActiveX}, {CORBA} etc.  EJB can be used to wrap {legacy
	systems}.

	EJB 1.1 was released in December 1999.  EJB 2.0 is in
	development.

	Sun claims broad industry adoption.  30 vendors are shipping
	server products implementing EJB.  Supporting vendors include
	{IBM}, {Fujitsu}, {Sybase}, {Borland}, {Oracle}, and
	{Symantec}.

	An alternative is Microsoft's MTS ({Microsoft Transaction
	Server}).

	{Home (http://java.sun.com/products/ejb/)}.

	{FAQ (http://java.sun.com/products/ejb/faq.html)}.

	(2000-04-20)

<file format, filename extension> (jar) A compressed {archive}
	file containing {Java} {class} files, filename extension:
	".jar".  The {Java Development Kit} contains a tool called
	"jar" for creating .jar files, similar to the standard {Unix}
	{tar} command.  As well as archiving and compressing the Java
	class files, it also inserts a "manifest" file which can
	contain information about the class files, such as a {digital
	signature}.  Combining class files into a single archive file
	makes it possible to download them in a single {HTTP}
	transaction.  This, and the {compression}, speeds up execution
	of Java programs delivered via the {Internet}.

	(2001}-02-03)