no-op

/noh'op/ alt. NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine

instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in

assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas,

or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries). See also

JFCL.

2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has

nothing going on upstairs, or both. As in "He's a no-op."

3. Any operation or sequence of operations with no effect,

such as circling the block without finding a parking space, or

putting money into a vending machine and having it fall

immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for

help and being told to go away. "Oh, well, that was a no-op."

Hot-and-sour soup that is insufficiently either is "no-op

soup"; so is wonton soup if everybody else is having

hot-and-sour.

[Jargon File]

(1994-12-02)