nil

6 definitions found

nil - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Nil \Nil\ [See Nill, v. t.]
     Will not. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]

  Nil \Nil\, n. & a. [L., a contr. of nihil.]
     Nothing; of no account; worthless; -- a term often used for
     canceling, in accounts or bookkeeping. --A. J. Ellis.
     [1913 Webster]

  Nil \Nil\, n. (computers)
     A special value for a variable used in certain computer
     languages to mean no assigned value, to be distinguished from
     the value zero.
     [PJC]

nil - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  nil
      n 1: a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had
           ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had
           done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for
           naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nothing,
           nil, nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher,
           goose egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip, zippo]

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

  NIL
  
     /nil/ 1. New Implementation of Lisp.  A language intended to
     be the successor of MacLisp.  A large Lisp, implemented
     mostly in VAX assembly language.  A forerunner of Common LISP
     .
  
     ["NIL: A Perspective", Jon L. White, MACSYMA Users' Conf Proc,
     1979].
  
     2. Network Implementation Language.  Strom & Yemini, TJWRC,
     IBM.  Implementation of complex networking protocols in a
     modular fashion.
  
     ["NIL: An Integrated Language and System for Distributed
     Programming", R. Strom et al, SIGPLAN Notices 18(6):73-82
     (June 1983)].
  
     3. Empty list or False.  In Lisp, the empty list (or "nil
     list") is used to represent the Boolean value False.  This
     is possible because Lisp is not typed.  True is represented
     by the special atom "t".
  
     4. Spoken in reply to a question, particularly one asked using
     the "-P" convention it means "No".  Most hackers assume this
     derives simply from LISP, but NIL meaning "no" was
     well-established among radio hams decades before LISP existed.
     The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham
     radio world was strong enough that this may have been an
     influence.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

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

  NIL
   /nil/
  
     No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using the
  `-P'
     convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP
     terminology for `false' (see also T), but NIL as a negative reply
     was well-established among radio hams decades before the advent of
     LISP. The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham
     radio world was strong enough that this may have been an influence.