Big iron

Big iron

Big iron, as the hacker's dictionary the Jargon File defines it, "refers to large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. It is used generally for number crunching supercomputers such as Crays, but can include more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes".

The term bears a slightly ironic, but respectful, connotation.

The term is often used in reference to IBM mainframes, often when discussing their comeback/survival after the assault of lower cost Unix systems. More recently the term is also applied to powerful computer servers and computer ranches, whose steel racks naturally invoke the same association.

The expression may be compared with the slang expression for heavy handguns, derived from the slang "iron" for a handgun ("shooting iron"), as exemplified by the classical country music ballad "Big Iron" by Marty Robbins about "the ranger with the big iron on his hip".

ee also

*Iron (metaphor)

References

*jargon


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Big Iron — is a country ballad by Marty Robbins, originally released as an album track on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959, then as a single in February 1960. It tells the story of an unnamed Arizona Ranger s duel with an outlaw named… …   Wikipedia

  • big iron — n. a large, mainframe computer. (Computers. See also iron.) □ We’ll have to run this job on the big iron over at the university. □ What kind of big iron do they have over there? …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • Big Iron (disambiguation) — Big Iron may refer to one of the following. * Big Iron , a western ballad by Marty Robbins, released in 1960 * Big Iron [http://www.carolnoonanmusic.com/bigiron.htm] , an album of western ballads by Carol Noonan * Big Iron , a 2004 western novel… …   Wikipedia

  • Big Iron World — Infobox Album | Name = Big Iron World Type = Album Artist = Old Crow Medicine Show Released = August 29 2006 (U.S.) Recorded = Genre = Folk / Country Length = Label = Nettwerk Records Producer = David Rawlings Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|4|5… …   Wikipedia

  • Big Iron Farm Show — The Big Iron Farm Show is a large farm show held on the grounds of the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo, North Dakota. The show started in 1980 in Casselton, North Dakota, but moved to West Fargo in 1981.External links*… …   Wikipedia

  • big iron — noun Large, expensive, powerful computers such as mainframes …   Wiktionary

  • Big Iron — grosser, teurer und ultraschneller Rechner, http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon.html …   Acronyms

  • Big Iron — grosser, teurer und ultraschneller Rechner, (http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon.html) …   Acronyms von A bis Z

  • Iron (metaphor) — Iron, when used metaphorically, refers to certain traits of the metal iron. Used as an adjective and sometimes as a noun, it refers to something stern, harsh, unyielding, inflexible, rigid, sturdy, strong, robust. It is sometimes used for… …   Wikipedia

  • Iron Mountain (8007) — Infobox Mountain Name = Iron Mountain Photo = Caption = Elevation = convert|8007|ft|m|0 Location = California, USA Range = San Gabriel Mountains Prominence = convert|687|ft|m|0 Coordinates = coord|34|17|18.02|N|117|42|46.21|W|type:mountain region …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”