ddt

5 definitions found

ddt - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  DDT
      n 1: an insecticide that is also toxic to animals and humans;
           banned in the United States since 1972 [syn:
           dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT]

ddt - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  DDT
  
     1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other
     programs by showing individual machine instructions in a
     readable symbolic form and letting the user change them.  In
     this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely
     displaced by "debugger" or names of individual programs like
     "adb", "sdb", "dbx", or "gdb".
  
     2. Under MIT's fabled ITS operating system, DDT (running
     under the alias HACTRN) was also used as the shell or top
     level command language used to execute other programs.
  
     3. Any one of several specific debuggers supported on early
     DEC hardware.  The DEC PDP-10 Reference Handbook (1969)
     contained a footnote on the first page of the documentation
     for DDT that illuminates the origin of the term:
  
     Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the
     PDP-1 computer in 1961.  At that time DDT stood for "DEC
     Debugging Tape".  Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging
     program has propagated throughout the computer industry.  DDT
     programs are now available for all DEC computers.  Since media
     other than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive
     name "Dynamic Debugging Technique" has been adopted, retaining
     the DDT abbreviation.  Confusion between DDT-10 and another
     well known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane
     (C14-H9-Cl5) should be minimal since each attacks a different,
     and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs.
  
     (The "tape" referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but
     paper.)  Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions
     of the handbook after the suits took over and DEC became
     much more "businesslike".
  
     The history above is known to many old-time hackers.  But
     there's more: Peter Samson, compiler of the original TMRC
     lexicon, reports that he named "DDT" after a similar tool on
     the TX-0 computer, the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 built at
     MIT's Lincoln Lab in 1957.  The debugger on that
     ground-breaking machine (the first transistorised computer)
     rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape).
  
     [Jargon File]
  

ddt - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  DDT
   /D.D.T/, n.
  
     [from the insecticide para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethene]
  
     1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other
  programs
     by showing individual machine instructions in a readable symbolic
  form
     and letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now
     archaic, having been widely displaced by debugger or names of
     individual programs like adb, sdb, dbx, or gdb.
  
     2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled ITS operating system, DDT (running
  under
     the alias HACTRN, a six-letterism for `Hack Translator') was also
  used
     as the shell or top level command language used to execute other
     programs.
  
     3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense 1) supported on early
  DEC
     hardware and CP/M. The PDP-10 Reference Handbook (1969) contained a
     footnote on the first page of the documentation for DDT that
     illuminates the origin of the term:
  
    Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the PDP-1
    computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for "DEC Debugging Tape".
    Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program has propagated
    throughout the computer industry. DDT programs are now available
    for all DEC computers. Since media other than tape are now
    frequently used, the more descriptive name "Dynamic Debugging
    Technique" has been adopted, retaining the DDT abbreviation.
    Confusion between DDT-10 and another well known pesticide,
    dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane C[14]H[9]Cl[5] should be minimal
    since each attacks a different, and apparently mutually exclusive,
    class of bugs.
  
     (The `tape' referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but paper.)
     Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the handbook
     after the suits took over and DEC became much more
  `businesslike'.
  
     The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But there's
  more:
     Peter Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, reports that
  he
     named DDT after a similar tool on the TX-0 computer, the direct
     ancestor of the PDP-1 built at MIT's Lincoln Lab in 1957. The
  debugger
     on that ground-breaking machine (the first transistorized computer)
     rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape). Flit was
     for many years the trade-name of a popular insecticide.
  

ddt - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :

  DDT
         Dynamic Debugging Tool (DEC)
         

ddt - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  25 Moby Thesaurus words for "DDT":
     DDD, Paris green, antimony, arsenic, arsenic trioxide, beryllium,
     bichloride of mercury, cadmium, carbolic acid, carbon monoxide,
     carbon tetrachloride, chlorine, cyanide, hydrocyanic acid,
     hyoscyamine, lead, mercuric chloride, mercury, mustard gas,
     nicotine, phenol, poison gas, prussic acid, selenium, strychnine