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T
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T /T/ 1. [from LISP terminology for `true'] Yes. Used
in reply to a question (particularly one asked using The `-P'
convention). In LISP, the constant T means `true', among other
things. Some Lisp hackers use `T' and `NIL' instead of `Yes' and
`No' almost reflexively. This sometimes causes misunderstandings.
When a waiter or flight attendant asks whether a hacker wants
coffee, he may absently respond `T', meaning that he wants coffee;
but of course he will be brought a cup of tea instead.
Fortunately, most hackers (particularly those who frequent Chinese
restaurants) like tea at least as well as coffee -- so it is not
that big a problem. 2. See time T (also since time T
equals minus infinity). 3. [techspeak] In transaction-processing
circles, an abbreviation for the noun `transaction'. 4. [Purdue]
Alternate spelling of tee. 5. A dialect of LISP
developed at Yale. (There is an intended allusion to NIL, "New
Implementation of Lisp", another dialect of Lisp developed for the
VAX)
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