The Perl Guy's definitions

acredundanym

A redundant acronym (ac-re-DUND-uh-nim). Typically an acronym followed by one or more words that are already represented by one or more letters in the acronym.

I created this word sometime in the mid-1990's.

Here are a few acredundanyms:

ATM Machine (Automatic Teller Machine Machine)
PIN Number (Personal Identification Number Number)
My favorite:
ABS Brake System (Antilock Brake System Brake System)

by The Perl Guy October 9, 2009

PDFicate

To create a PDF document.

I PDFicated several Word documents. The beauty of a PDFicated document is that it cannot be edited, hence I laughed when a co-worker asked if she could unPDFicate the document...

by The Perl Guy October 9, 2009

nawkify

To add one or more 'awk' commands to a Unix or Linux shell script, using the newer version of 'awk', called 'nawk' in some Unix operating systems.

'awk' is a programming language created by Al Aho, Peter Weinberger and Brian Kernighan of Bell Laboratories (hence the name 'awk') and released with Unix Version 7 (circa 1978). The new version, 'called 'nawk', was released c irca 1985.

Usually done to either improve the perfomance of a shell script or to allow the script to perform something that the shell itself is not capable of, such as floating point arithmatic.

I need to get a floating point answer to division in my new shell script, so I'm going to awkify it. I'm also going to use awk's 'while' loop construct, and I'm working on a SUN Solaris 8 OS, so I'll need to call the newer version of 'awk', called 'nawk'. I'm actually going to nawkify it.

by The Perl Guy May 31, 2010