October 22, 2002

5:59 AM

One of the better online dictionaries for technology-related material that I've seen. And it's free! What's better than free? Nuthin. The title is a bit misleading as it's not as comprehensive as a traditional encyclopedia, but it's helped me every time I've needed it.
posted by archimago (12 comments total)

Run, archimago! Run like the wind while I try to hold back the angry mob!
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:15 AM on October 22, 2002

okay, what am I missing?
posted by archimago at 6:17 AM on October 22, 2002

don't look down.
posted by johnnyboy at 6:18 AM on October 22, 2002

As a fellow newcomer to Metafilter, I will break the news gently. Webopaedia has been around for a while and there are few people at Metafilter who have not used it or seen it before.
posted by monkeyman at 6:35 AM on October 22, 2002

Yes, but some people haven't seen it yet (I only discovered it a couple of days ago when I was searching for a definition of 'to flame' in a pretentious attempt to cover my ass on a message board... ahem), and a search of MeFi seems to show that it hasn't been posted before.

So, no double-post, and a link to good, stable online resource that some people will find useful. I say good post.
posted by chrismear at 7:17 AM on October 22, 2002

For hacker jargon and tech lingo, I prefer the the jargon file. It doesn't cover all the areas webopedia does, but it generally has much more involved explanations of the origins of internet and coder terminology.

For example, compare:
*to flame on TJF
*or from webopedia

See?
posted by malphigian at 7:24 AM on October 22, 2002

Wow. The Jargon File is fantastic. Thank you, malphigian!
posted by chrismear at 7:39 AM on October 22, 2002

I actually searched the archives for the word "webopedia" to make sure I wasn't reposting something. I humbly apologize for the repost. **bows gracefully before the MeFi audience**
posted by archimago at 7:46 AM on October 22, 2002

to follow malphigian's lead (can anyone else see where this is going?) compare and contrast...

* Webopedia
* TJF
posted by twine42 at 8:41 AM on October 22, 2002

twine32: Ah, true, it does have some obnoxious *nix zealotry.

But the purpose of the file isn't to look up technical definitions (eg. What's windows? What's a hardrive?), its to describe the terminology that has developed in hacker and techie subcultures. Anyone who uses one of the microsoft snarks terms (M$, Microsloth, Microf~1) is clearly using it in the way they describe... however outdated (Windows NT/2k/XP is not even remotely what they accuse it of there) it might be.
posted by malphigian at 9:09 AM on October 22, 2002

very true, but i tend to lap up any flavour of zealotry behaviour... ;)
posted by twine42 at 9:23 AM on October 22, 2002

I have to say, the one that interested me the most (so far - work, what's work?) was the one for the Winchester disk.

Loved the idea, ever since I crashed my father's Apricot by convincing it that it had one...
posted by twine42 at 9:33 AM on October 22, 2002