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Karma
kernel
keyword
kilobyte
kluge

Karma

A programmers' toolkit for scientific computing with communications support, event management, data structure manipulation, graphics display and user interface support. Information on Karma may be found at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/karma. Karma was developed by R. Gooch. AIPS++ uses Karma for a StorageManager and for graphics.

kernel

1. In computing, the essential part of an operating system, responsible for resource allocation, low-level hardware interfaces, security etc.

2. In programming, an essential subset of a programming language, in terms of which other constructs are (or could be) defined.

keyword

A named value ("keyword=value"). In AIPS++ the value can normally be a scalar type, Array of scalar, or Table. The particular types that may be attached to a keyword are class specific.

kilobyte

2 (1024) bytes.

kluge

1. A ramshackle, barely competent device, whether in hardware or software.

2. A clever programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if unclear, manner. Often used to repair bugs.

3. Something that works for the wrong reason.

In 1947, the "New York Folklore Quarterly" reported a story Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker then current in the U.S. Armed Forces, in which a kluge was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial function. kluge was also Navy slang during World War II for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but consistently failed at sea.

The variant kludge was popularized by Jackson Granholme, [How to Design a Kludge, Datamation, February 1962, 30-31] who defined it as: "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole."

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