alt.: NOP /nop/ [no operation]
1. A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in
assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to
overwrite code to be removed in binaries).
2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing
going on upstairs, or both. As in "He's a no-op."
3. Any operation or sequence of operations with no effect, such as
circling the block without finding a parking space, or putting money
into a vending machine and having it fall immediately into the
coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being told to go
away. "Oh, well, that was a no-op." Hot-and-sour soup (see
{great-wall}) that is insufficiently either is no-op soup; so is
wonton soup if everybody else is having hot-and-sour.
[glossary]