:M: /pref./ (on units) suff. (on numbers) [SI] See
{{quantifiers}}.
:macdink: /mak'dink/ /vt./ [from the Apple Macintosh, which is said to encourage such behavior] To make many incremental and unnecessary cosmetic changes to a program or file. Often the subject of the macdinking would be better off without them. "When I left at 11 P.M. last night, he was still macdinking the slides for his presentation." See also {fritterware}, {window shopping}.
:machinable: /adj./ Machine-readable. Having the {softcopy} nature.
:machoflops: /mach'oh-flops/ /n./ [pun on `megaflops', a coinage for `millions of FLoating-point Operations Per Second'] Refers to artificially inflated performance figures often quoted by computer manufacturers. Real applications are lucky to get half the quoted speed. See {Your mileage may vary}, {benchmark}.
:Macintoy: /mak'in-toy/ /n./ The Apple Macintosh, considered as a {toy}. Less pejorative than {Macintrash}.
:Macintrash: /mak'in-trash`/ /n./ The Apple Macintosh, as
described by a hacker who doesn't appreciate being kept away from
the *real computer* by the interface. The term {maggotbox}
has been reported in regular use in the Research Triangle area of
North Carolina. Compare {Macintoy}. See also {beige
toaster}, {WIMP environment}, {point-and-drool interface},
{drool-proof paper}, {user-friendly}.
:macro: /mak'roh/ [techspeak] /n./ A name (possibly followed
by a formal {arg} list) that is equated to a text or symbolic
expression to which it is to be expanded (possibly with the
substitution of actual arguments) by a macro expander. This
definition can be found in any technical dictionary; what those
won't tell you is how the hackish connotations of the term have
changed over time.
The term `macro' originated in early assemblers, which encouraged the use of macros as a structuring and information-hiding device. During the early 1970s, macro assemblers became ubiquitous, and sometimes quite as powerful and expensive as {HLL}s, only to fall from favor as improving compiler technology marginalized assembler programming (see {languages of choice}). Nowadays the term is most often used in connection with the C preprocessor, LISP, or one of several special-purpose languages built around a macro-expansion facility (such as TeX or Unix's [nt]roff suite).
Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective `macros' is now sometimes used for code in any special-purpose application control language (whether or not the language is actually translated by text expansion), and for macro-like entities such as the `keyboard macros' supported in some text editors (and PC TSR or Macintosh INIT/CDEV keyboard enhancers).
:macro-: /pref./ Large. Opposite of {micro-}. In the mainstream and among other technical cultures (for example, medical people) this competes with the prefix {mega-}, but hackers tend to restrict the latter to quantification.