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user |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: User \Us"er\, n. 1. One who uses. --Shak. 2. (Law) Enjoyment of property; use --Mozley & W. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: user n 1: someone who enjoys property [syn: {enjoyer}] 2: a person who uses something or someone selfishly or unethically [syn: {exploiter}] 3: someone who consumes drugs [syn: {drug user}, {substance abuser}] From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: user n. 1. Someone doing `real work' with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end Someone who pays to use a computer. See {real user}. 2. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him One who asks silly questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true that users ask questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user failed to think for two seconds or look in the documentation before bothering the maintainer.] See {luser}. 3. Someone who uses a program from the outside, however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just going ahead and fixing them The general theory behind this term is that there are two classes of people who work with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and {luser}s. The users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are known as `real winners'.) The term is a relative one: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not Thus there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by context. From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: user 1.Someone doing "real work" with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end Someone who pays to use a computer. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him One who asks silly questions without thinking for two seconds or looking in the documentation. Someone who uses a program, however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One who reports {bug}s instead of just fixing them See also {luser}, {real user}. Users are looked down on by {hackers} to some extent because they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its glory. The term is relative: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not Thus there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by context. 2. Any person, organisation, process, device, program, {protocol}, or system which uses a service provided by others The term "{client}" (as in "{client-server}" systems) is rather more specific, usually implying two processes communicating via some protocol. [{Jargon File}] (1996-04-28)
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