Re: [Nettime-nl] hoezo inspirerend

[Guy Van Belle <Guy.VanBelle@rug.ac.be>]

SEX
                   
                      /seks/ [Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] 1. Software
			EXchange.  A
                      technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds
			of
                      millions of years ago to speed up their evolution,
			which had
                      been terribly slow up until then.  Today, SEX
			parties are
                      popular among hackers and others (of course, these
			are no
                      longer limited to exchanges of genetic software).
			In general,
                      SEX parties are a {Good Thing}, but unprotected SEX
			can
                      propagate a {virus}.  See also {pubic directory}.
                   
                      2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign
			EXtend, a
                      machine instruction found in the {PDP-11} and many
			other
                      architectures.  The RCA 1802 chip used in the early
			Elf and
                      SuperElf personal computers had a "SEt X register"
			SEX
                      instruction, but this seems to have had little
			folkloric
                      impact.
                   
                      DEC's engineers nearly got a {PDP-11} {assembler}
			that used
                      the "SEX" mnemonic out the door at one time, but
			(for once)
                      marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change.  That
			wasn't the
                      last time this happened, either.  The author of "The
			Intel
                      8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers
			of the
                      8086, noted that there was originally a "SEX"
			instruction on
                      that processor, too.  He says that Intel management
			got cold
                      feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the
			instruction
                      was renamed "CBW" and "CWD" (depending on what was
			being
                      extended).  The Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used
			in IBM PC
                      keyboards) is also missing straight "SEX" but has
			logical-or
                      and logical-and instructions "ORL" and "ANL".
                   
                      The {Motorola 6809}, used in the UK's "{Dragon 32}"
			{personal
                      computer}, actually had an official "SEX"
			instruction; the
                      {6502} in the {Apple II} with which it competed did
			not.
                   
                   


	xgz




> On 05-10-2000 at 08:57, josephine bosma kindly wrote:
> 
> >> Sex was MEANT to be dirty, dangerous and disturbing.
> 
> > sex was toch vooral bedoelt als deel van een zo goed (dus veilig)
> > mogelijke voortplanting?
> 
> Dat was voor de pil ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> - K -


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