:deserves to lose: /adj./ Said of someone who willfully does the {Wrong Thing}; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be {marginal}. What is meant is that one deserves the consequences of one's {losing} actions. "Boy, anyone who tries to use {mess-dos} deserves to {lose}!" ({{ITS}} fans used to say the same thing of {{Unix}}; many still do.) See also {screw}, {chomp}, {bagbiter}.
:desk check: /n.,v./ To {grovel} over hardcopy of source code, mentally simulating the control flow; a method of catching bugs. No longer common practice in this age of on-screen editing, fast compiles, and sophisticated debuggers — though some maintain stoutly that it ought to be. Compare {eyeball search}, {vdiff}, {vgrep}.
:despew: /d*-spyoo'/ /v./ [Usenet] To automatically generate a large amount of garbage to the net, esp. from an automated posting program gone wild. See {ARMM}.
:Devil Book: /n./ See {daemon book}, the term preferred by its authors.
:dickless workstation: /n./ Extremely pejorative hackerism for `diskless workstation', a class of botches including the Sun 3/50 and other machines designed exclusively to network with an expensive central disk server. These combine all the disadvantages of time-sharing with all the disadvantages of distributed personal computers; typically, they cannot even {boot} themselves without help (in the form of some kind of {breath-of-life packet}) from the server.
:dictionary flame: /n./ [Usenet] An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over definitions to disputes about reality. Compare {spelling flame}.
:diddle: 1. /vt./ To work with or modify in a not particularly serious manner. "I diddled a copy of {ADVENT} so it didn't double-space all the time." "Let's diddle this piece of code and see if the problem goes away." See {tweak} and {twiddle}. 2. /n./ The action or result of diddling. See also {tweak}, {twiddle}, {frob}.
:die: /v./ Syn. {crash}. Unlike {crash}, which is used
primarily of hardware, this verb is used of both hardware and
software. See also {go flatline}, {casters-up mode}.
:die horribly: /v./ The software equivalent of {crash and
burn}, and the preferred emphatic form of {die}. "The
converter choked on an FF in its input and died horribly".
:diff: /dif/ /n./ 1. A change listing, especially giving differences between (and additions to) source code or documents (the term is often used in the plural `diffs'). "Send me your diffs for the Jargon File!" Compare {vdiff}. 2. Specifically, such a listing produced by the `diff(1)' command, esp. when used as specification input to the `patch(1)' utility (which can actually perform the modifications; see {patch}). This is a common method of distributing patches and source updates in the Unix/C world. 3. /v./ To compare (whether or not by use of automated tools on machine-readable files); see also {vdiff}, {mod}.