The hexadecimal word-fill pattern for freshly allocated memory under
a number of IBM environments, including the RS/6000. Some modern
debugging tools deliberately fill freed memory with this value as a
way of converting {heisenbug}s into {Bohr bug}s. As in "Your program
is DEADBEEF" (meaning gone, aborted, flushed from memory); if you
start from an odd half-word boundary, of course, you have BEEFDEAD.
See also the anecdote under {fool} and {dead beef attack}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {dead beef attack}{fool}]