[acronym, `Do What I Mean']
1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even correctly, the result intended
when bogus input was provided.
2. n. obs. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to
accomplish this feat by correcting many of the more common errors.
See {hairy}.
3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a balky computer, esp.
when one senses one might be tripping over legalisms (see
{legalese}).
4. Of a person, someone whose directions are incomprehensible and
vague, but who nevertheless has the expectation that you will solve
the problem using the specific method he/she has in mind.
Warren Teitelman originally wrote DWIM to fix his typos and spelling
errors, so it was somewhat idiosyncratic to his style, and would
often make hash of anyone else's typos if they were stylistically
different. Some victims of DWIM thus claimed that the acronym stood
for `Damn Warren's Infernal Machine!'.
In one notorious incident, Warren added a DWIM feature to the command
interpreter used at Xerox PARC. One day another hacker there typed
delete *$ to free up some disk space. (The editor there named backup
files by appending $ to the original file name, so he was trying to
delete any backup files left over from old editing sessions.) It
happened that there weren't any editor backup files, so DWIM
helpfully reported *$ not found, assuming you meant 'delete *'. It
then started to delete all the files on the disk! The hacker managed
to stop it with a {Vulcan nerve pinch} after only a half dozen or so
files were lost.
The disgruntled victim later said he had been sorely tempted to go to
Warren's office, tie Warren down in his chair in front of his
workstation, and then type delete *$ twice.
DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex
program; it is also occasionally described as the single instruction
the ideal computer would have. Back when proofs of program
correctness were in vogue, there were also jokes about DWIMC (Do What
I Mean, Correctly). A related term, more often seen as a verb, is
DTRT (Do The Right Thing); see {Right Thing}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {gedanken}{hairy}{toaster}]