:frobnitz: /frob'nits/, /pl./ `frobnitzem' /frob'nit-zm/ or `frobni' /frob'ni:/ /n./ [TMRC] An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to `frotz', or more commonly to {frob}. Also used are `frobnule' (/frob'n[y]ool/) and `frobule' (/frob'yool/). Starting perhaps in 1979, `frobozz' /fr*-boz'/ (plural: `frobbotzim' /fr*-bot'zm/) has also become very popular, largely through its exposure as a name via {Zork}. These variants can also be applied to nonphysical objects, such as data structures.
Pete Samson, compiler of the original {TMRC} lexicon, adds, "Under the TMRC [railroad] layout were many storage boxes, managed (in 1958) by David R. Sawyer. Several had fanciful designations written on them, such as `Frobnitz Coil Oil'. Perhaps DRS intended Frobnitz to be a proper name, but the name was quickly taken for the thing". This was almost certainly the origin of the term.
:frog: alt. `phrog' 1. /interj./ Term of disgust (we seem to have a lot of them). 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See {foo}. 3. /n./ Of things, a crock. 4. /n./ Of people, somewhere in between a turkey and a toad. 5. `froggy': /adj./ Similar to {bagbiting}, but milder. "This froggy program is taking forever to run!"
:frogging: [University of Waterloo] /v./ 1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. See {terminak} for a historical example and compare {dread high-bit disease}. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal or comm program on a device like an IBM PC with a special `high-half' character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway.
:front end: /n./ 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a `back end'). 2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making replies without paying attention. "Look at the dancing elephants!" "Uh-huh." "Do you know what I just said?" "Sorry, you were talking to the front end." See also {fepped out}. 3. Software that provides an interface to another program `behind' it, which may not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes.
:frotz: /frots/ 1. /n./ See {frobnitz}. 2. `mumble frotz': An interjection of mildest disgust.
:frotzed: /frotst/ /adj./ {down} because of hardware problems. Compare {fried}. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged.
:frowney: /n./ (alt. `frowney face') See {emoticon}.
:FRS: // /n./ Abbreviation for "Freely Redistributable
Software" which entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after
years of low-level confusion over what exactly to call software
written to be passed around and shared (contending terms including
{freeware}, {shareware}, and `sourceware' were never
universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons).
The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was
held in Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by
the
Free Software Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS
abbreviation heavily in its calls for papers and other literature
during 1995; this was probably critical in helping establish the
term.
:fry: 1. /vi./ To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See {fried}, {magic smoke}. 2. /vt./ To cause to fail; to {roach}, {toast}, or {hose} a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare {fried}.