[abbreviation]
1. A measure of computing speed; formally, `Million Instructions Per
Second' (that's 10^6 per second, not 2^20!); often rendered by
hackers as `Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed' or in other
unflattering ways, such as `Meaningless Information Provided by
Salesmen'. This joke expresses an attitude nearly universal among
hackers about the value of most {benchmark} claims, said attitude
being one of the great cultural divides between hackers and
{marketroid}s (see also {BogoMIPS}). The singular is sometimes `1
MIP' even though this is clearly etymologically wrong. See also
{KIPS} and {GIPS}.
2. Computers, especially large computers, considered abstractly as
sources of {computron}s. "This is just a workstation; the heavy MIPS
are hidden in the basement."
3. The corporate name of a particular RISC-chip company, later
acquired by SGI.
4. Acronym for `Meaningless Information per Second' (a joke, prob.:
from sense 1).
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {benchmark}{BogoMIPS}{GIPS}{KIPS}{smoke and mirrors}{water MIPS}]