English Dictionary: Its | by the DICT Development Group |
3 results for Its | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Its \Its\ Possessive form of the pronoun it. See {It}. | |
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]: | |
ITS /I-T-S/ n. 1. Incompatible Time-sharing System, an influential though highly idiosyncratic operating system written for PDP-6s and PDP-10s at MIT and long used at the MIT AI Lab. Much AI-hacker jargon derives from ITS folklore, and to have been `an ITS hacker' qualifies one instantly as an old-timer of the most venerable sort. ITS pioneered many important innovations, including transparent file sharing between machines and terminal-independent I/O. After about 1982, most actual work was shifted to newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run essentially as a hobby and service to the hacker community. The shutdown of the lab's last ITS machine in May 1990 marked the end of an era and sent old-time hackers into mourning nationwide (see {high moby}). 2. A mythical image of operating-system perfection worshiped by a bizarre, fervent retro-cult of old-time hackers and ex-users (see {troglodyte}, sense 2). ITS worshipers manage somehow to continue believing that an OS maintained by assembly-language hand-hacking that supported only monocase 6-character filenames in one directory per account remains superior to today's state of commercial art (their venom against {Unix} is particularly intense). See also {holy wars}, {Weenix}. | |
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]: | |
ITS 1. Incompatible {time-sharing} System An influential but highly idiosyncratic {operating system} written for the {PDP-6} and {PDP-10} at {MIT} and long used at the {MIT AI Lab}. Much AI-hacker jargon derives from ITS folklore, and to have been "an ITS hacker" qualifies one instantly as an old-timer of the most venerable sort. ITS pioneered many important innovations, including transparent file sharing between machines and terminal-independent I/O. After about 1982, most actual work was shifted to newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run essentially as a hobby and service to the hacker community. The shutdown of the lab's last ITS machine in May 1990 marked the end of an era and sent old-time hackers into mourning nationwide (see {high moby}). The Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden is maintaining one "live" ITS site at its computer museum (right next to the only {TOPS-10} system still on the {Internet}), so ITS is still alleged to hold the record for OS in longest continuous use (however, {WAITS} is a credible rival for this palm). 2. A mythical image of {operating system} perfection worshiped by a bizarre, fervent retro-cult of old-time hackers and ex-users (see {troglodyte}). ITS worshipers manage somehow to continue believing that an OS maintained by {assembly language} hand-hacking that supported only monocase 6-character filenames in one directory per account remains superior to today's state of commercial art (their venom against {Unix} is particularly intense). See also {holy wars}, {Weenix}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-15) |