cycle
1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker
wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper describes himself as a
"cycle junkie"). One can describe an instruction as taking so
many `clock cycles'. Often the computer can access its memory
once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also of `memory
cycles'. These are technical meanings of cycle. The jargon
meaning comes from the observation that there are only so many
cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer the cycles
get divided up among the users. The more cycles the computer
spends working on your program rather than someone else's, the
faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants more
cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to
respond. 2. By extension, a notional unit of human thought
power, emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical
hacker's think time. "I refused to get involved with the Rubik's
Cube back when it was big. Knew I'd burn too many cycles on it if
I let myself." 3. vt. Syn. bounce (sense 4), 120 reset;
from the phrase `cycle power'. "Cycle the machine again, that
serial port's still hung."
