tnstaafl

1 definition found

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

  TANSTAAFL
  TNSTAAFL
  
     /tan'stah-fl/ (From Robert Heinlein's classic "The
     Moon is a Harsh Mistress") "There Ain't No Such Thing As A
     Free Lunch".
  
     Often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using
     an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor
     quality of some piece of free software, or at the
     signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups.
     "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end
     to get my address book program to work!"  "Well, TANSTAAFL you
     know."  This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high
     concentration of science-fiction fans and political
     libertarians in hackerdom.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1995-02-28)