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nano |
3 definitions found From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: nano /nan'oh/ n. [CMU: from `nanosecond'] A brief period of time. "Be with you in a nano" means you really will be free shortly, i.e., implies what mainstream people mean by "in a jiffy" (whereas the hackish use of `jiffy' is quite different -- see {jiffy}). From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: nano- pref. [SI: the next quantifier below {micro-}; meaning * 10^(-9)] Smaller than {micro-}, and used in the same rather loose and connotative way Thus one has {{nanotechnology}} (coined by hacker K. Eric Drexler) by analogy with `microtechnology'; and a few machine architectures have a `nanocode' level below `microcode'. Tom Duff at Bell Labs has also pointed out that "Pi seconds is a nanocentury". See also {{quantifiers}}, {pico-}, {nanoacre}, {nanobot}, {nanocomputer}, {nanofortnight}. From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: nano- /nan'oh/ 1.A {prefix}. 2. Used losely to mean "small", e.g. {nanotechnology}. 3. (CMU, from "nanosecond") A brief period of time. "Be with you in a nano" means you really will be free shortly, i.e. implies what mainstream people mean by "in a jiffy". Compare {jiffy}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-09-20)
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