The Computer Contradictionary
The Computer Contradictionary by Stan Kelly-Bootle is a satirical list of definitions of computer industry terms, published in Boston by MIT Press in 1995, ISBN 0-262-61112-0. . It is an example of "cynical lexicography" in the tradition of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.
The Computer Contradictionary is a follow-on to Kelly-Bootle's The Devil's DP Dictionary, published in New York by McGraw-Hill in 1981, ISBN 0-07-034022-6; the latter publication shares only a little material with the former. DP stood for "data processing", a term formerly used to describe the computer hardware and software industries.
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