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3.1 KiB
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20 lines
3.1 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>micro-</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../M.html" title="M"/><link rel="previous" href="mickey-mouse-program.html" title="mickey mouse program"/><link rel="next" href="MicroDroid.html" title="MicroDroid"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">micro-</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="mickey-mouse-program.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">M</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="MicroDroid.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="micro-"/><dt xmlns="" id="micro-"><b>micro-</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">pref.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. Very small; this is the root of its use as a quantifier prefix.
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</p></dd><dd><p> 2. A quantifier prefix, calling for multiplication by
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<tt class="literal">10<sup>-6</sup></tt> (see
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<a href="../Q/quantifiers.html"><i class="glossterm">quantifiers</i></a>). Neither of these uses is peculiar to
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hackers, but hackers tend to fling them both around rather more freely than
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is countenanced in standard English. It is recorded, for example, that one
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CS professor used to characterize the standard length of his lectures as a
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microcentury — that is, about 52.6 minutes (see also
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<a href="../A/attoparsec.html"><i class="glossterm">attoparsec</i></a>, <a href="../N/nanoacre.html"><i class="glossterm">nanoacre</i></a>, and
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especially <a href="microfortnight.html"><i class="glossterm">microfortnight</i></a>). </p></dd><dd><p> 3. Personal or human-scale — that is, capable of being
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maintained or comprehended or manipulated by one human being. This sense
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is generalized from <span class="firstterm">microcomputer</span>,
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and is esp. used in contrast with <span class="firstterm">macro-</span> (the corresponding Greek prefix meaning
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‘large’). </p></dd><dd><p> 4. Local as opposed to global (or <a href="macro-.html"><i class="glossterm">macro-</i></a>).
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Thus a hacker might say that buying a smaller car to reduce pollution only
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solves a microproblem; the macroproblem of getting to work might be better
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solved by using mass transit, moving to within walking distance, or (best
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of all) telecommuting.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="mickey-mouse-program.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../M.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="MicroDroid.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">mickey mouse program<61></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>MicroDroid</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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