1. <electronics> {push-button}.

	2. <operating system> A graphical representation of an
	electrical {push-button} appearing as part of a {graphical
	user interface}.  Moving the {mouse pointer} over the
	graphical button and pressing one of the physical mouse
	buttons starts some software action such as closing a window
	or deleting a file.

	See also {radio button}.

	(1997-07-07)

1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird.
	"The system's been behaving pretty randomly."

	2. Assorted; undistinguished.  "Who was at the conference?"
	"Just a bunch of random business types."

	3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected.  "He's
	just a random loser."

	4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organised.
	"The program has a random set of misfeatures."  "That's a
	random name for that function."  "Well, all the names were
	chosen pretty randomly."

	5. In no particular order, though {deterministic}.  "The I/O
	channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is
	chosen randomly."

	6. Arbitrary.  "It generates a random name for the scratch
	file."

	7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e. poorly done and for no good
	apparent reason.  For example, a program that handles file
	name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler
	routine that could easily have been coded using only three
	registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with
	non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it
	without first saving four extra registers.  What {randomness}!

	8.  A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students
	who soak up computer time and generally get in the way.

	9.  Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not
	known to the hacker speaking).  "I went to the talk, but the
	audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions".

	10.  (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall.  See
	also {J. Random}, {some random X}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-12-05)

<data> A data structure holding many values, possibly of
	different types, which is usually accessed sequentially,
	working from the head to the end of the tail - an "ordered
	list".  This contrasts with a (one-dimensional) {array}, any
	element of which can be accessed equally quickly.

	Lists are often stored using a cell and pointer arrangement
	where each value is stored in a cell along with an associated
	pointer to the next cell.  A special pointer, e.g. zero, marks
	the end of the list.  This is known as a (singly) "linked
	list".  A doubly linked list has pointers from each cell to
	both next and previous cells.

	An unordered list is a {set}.

	(1998-11-12)

See {tuple}.

1. To copy {data} (often {program} {code} to be {run}) into
	{memory}, possibly {parsing} it somehow in the process.
	E.g. "{WordPerfect} can't load this {RTF} file - are you sure
	it didn't get corrupted in the {download}?"  Opposite of
	{save}.

	2. The degree to which a computer, {network}, or other
	resource is used, sometimes expressed as a percentage of the
	maximum available.  E.g. "What kind of CPU load does that
	program give?", "The network's constantly running at 100%
	load".  Sometimes used, by extension, to mean "to increase the
	level of use of a resource".  E.g. "Loading a spreadsheet
	really loads the CPU".  See also: {load balancing}.

	3. To {install} a piece of {software} onto a system.
	E.g. "The computer guy is gonna come load Excel on my laptop
	for me".  This usage is widely considered to be incorrect.

	(2002-07-02)

<hardware> To press and release a {button} on a {mouse} or
	other {pointing device}.  This generates an {event}, also
	specifying the screen position, which is processed by the
	{window manager} or {application program}.  On a mouse with
	more than one button, the unqualified term usually implies
	pressing the left-most button (with the right index finger),
	other buttons would be qualified, e.g. "{right-click}".
	{Keyboard} modifiers may also be used, e.g. "shift-click",
	meaning to hold down the shift key on the keyboard while
	clicking the mouse button.

	If the mouse moves while the button is pressed then this is a
	{drag}.

	(1995-03-14)

1. <file system> {hard link} or {symbolic link}.

	2. <hypertext> {hyperlink}.

	(1997-10-22)

<hypertext> A program which allows a person to read
	{hypertext}.  The browser gives some means of viewing the
	contents of {nodes} (or "pages") and of {navigating} from one
	node to another.

	{Netscape Navigator}, {NCSA} {Mosaic}, {Lynx}, and {W3} are
	examples for browsers for the {World-Wide Web}.  They act as
	{clients} to remote {web servers}.

	(1996-05-31)

In {object-oriented programming} sending a message to an
	{object} (to invoke a {method}) is equivalent to calling a
	{procedure} in traditional programming languages, except that
	the actual code executed may only be selected at run time
	depending on the {class} of the object.  Thus, in response to
	the message "drawSelf", the method code invoked would be
	different if the target object were a circle or a square.

	(1995-02-16)

1. <operating system> (Or "erase") To make a file
	inaccessible.

	Usually this operation only deletes information from the
	tables the {file system} uses to locate named files; the
	file's contents still exist on {disk} and can sometimes be
	recovered by scanning the whole disk for strings which are
	known to have been in the file.  Files created subsequently on
	the same disk are quite likely to reuse the same blocks and
	thus overwrite the deleted file's data permanently.

	2. <character> The {control character} with {ASCII} code 127.
	Usually entering this character from the keyboard deletes the
	last character typed from the {input buffer}.  Sadly there is
	great confusion between {operating systems} and keyboard
	manufacturers as to whether this function should be assigned
	to the delete or {backspace} key/character.

	The choice of code 127 (binary 1111111) is not arbitrary but
	dates back to the use of {paper tape} for input.  The delete
	key rewound the tape by one character and punched out all
	seven holes, thus obliterating whatever character was there
	before.  The tape reading software ignored any delete
	characters in the input.

	(1996-12-01)