19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>MIPS</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="minor-detail.html" title="minor detail"/><link rel="next" href="misbug.html" title="misbug"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">MIPS</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="minor-detail.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">M</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="misbug.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="MIPS"/><dt xmlns="" id="MIPS"><b>MIPS</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/mips/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [abbreviation] </p></dd><dd><p> 1. A measure of computing speed; formally, ‘Million
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Instructions Per Second’ (that's
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<tt class="literal">10<sup>6</sup></tt> per second, not
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<tt class="literal">2<sup>20</sup></tt>!); often rendered by
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hackers as ‘Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed’ or in
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other unflattering ways, such as ‘Meaningless Information Provided by
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Salesmen’. This joke expresses an attitude nearly universal among
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hackers about the value of most <a href="../B/benchmark.html"><i class="glossterm">benchmark</i></a> claims,
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said attitude being one of the great cultural divides between hackers and
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<a href="marketroid.html"><i class="glossterm">marketroid</i></a>s (see also
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<a href="../B/BogoMIPS.html"><i class="glossterm">BogoMIPS</i></a>). The singular is sometimes ‘1
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MIP’ even though this is clearly etymologically wrong. See also
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<a href="../K/KIPS.html"><i class="glossterm">KIPS</i></a> and <a href="../G/GIPS.html"><i class="glossterm">GIPS</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. Computers, especially large computers, considered abstractly as
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sources of <a href="../C/computron.html"><i class="glossterm">computron</i></a>s. “<span class="quote">This is just a
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workstation; the heavy MIPS are hidden in the basement.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 3. The corporate name of a particular RISC-chip company,
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later acquired by SGI.</p></dd><dd><p> 4. Acronym for ‘Meaningless Information per Second’ (a
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joke, prob.: from sense 1).</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="minor-detail.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../M.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="misbug.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">minor detail </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> misbug</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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