Jargon File

The Jargon File is a dictionary of computer slang, which was originally in plaintext format and is now available as HTML. It also includes a lot of computer hacker folklore, both in the appendixes and as part of the main text of the entries. The file originated in 1975, at a time when computers were only used by a few specialists. It was originally published in book form as The Hacker's Dictionary in 1983, edited by Guy L. Steele Jr.

At this point, the university AI labs that spawned the Jargon File were dying, and the Jargon File fell into disuse. It was picked up again by Eric Raymond in 1990; he maintained the file, adding new Internet-related material, and published several revisions in 1991, 1993 and 1996 as The New Hacker's Dictionary, though not without controversy (Raymond was accused of writing material that's more true of himself than of hackers in general).

The file is still around, but maintenance abruptly stopped in 2004, and the file is heavily subject to Technology Marches On, having never been fully adapted to the omnipresent Web-based Internet of modern times.

Every so often someone tries to make the file live again. No attempt has yet succeeded.

The last version, now more than a decade old, can be found at http://www.catb.org/jargon/.