The Computer Contradictionary by Stan Kelly-Bootle

Stan Kelly-Bootle

Stan Kelly-Bootle is an author of nine books and numerous magazine articles, and songwriter. His most famous song is the Liverpool Lullaby , which Cilla Black recorded in 1969 as the B-side to her pop hit Conversations...

 is a satirical list of definitions of computer industry terms. It is an example of "cynical lexicography" in the tradition of Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...

's The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary is a satirical "reference" book written by Ambrose Bierce. The book offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language, lampooning cant and political doublespeak, as well as other aspects of human foolishness and frailty. It was originally published in 1906 as The...

. It was originally published as The Devil's DP Dictionary, in New York, by McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...

 in 1981, ISBN 0070340226. DP stood for "data processing

Data processing

Computer data processing is any process that a computer program does to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating, disseminating and...

", a term formerly used to describe the software and hardware

Hardware

Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....

 industries. It was re-edited under the new title in Boston by MIT Press

MIT Press

The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...

, in 1995, ISBN 0262611120.

Kelly-Bootle adds in the "Guide": The meaning of an entry should always be ascertained before consulting this dictionary.

Examples

Endless loop. See: Loop, endless

Loop, endless. See: Endless loop

Recursion. See: Recursion