1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining instruction
speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in
instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times
megabytes-of-mass-storage. "That machine can't run GNU Emacs, it
doesn't have enough computrons!" This usage is usually found in
metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible commodity good,
like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See {bitty box}, {Get a real
computer!}, {toy}, {crank}.
2. A mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of
computation or information, in much the same way that an electron
bears one unit of electric charge (see also {bogon}). An elaborate
pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed based on
the physical fact that the molecules in a solid object move more
rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an object melts because
the molecules have lost their information about where they are
supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This explains
why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up
computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object
by placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is believed that
this may also explain why machines that work at the factory fail in
the computer room: the computrons there have been all used up by the
other hardware. (The popularity of this theory probably owes
something to the Warlock stories by Larry Niven, the best known being
What Good is a Glass Dagger?, in which magic is fueled by an
exhaustible natural resource called mana.)
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {bit decay}{hacker humor}{MIPS}{quantum bogodynamics}{toy}]