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handle: n. 1. [from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a nom de
guerre intended to conceal the user's true identity.
Network and BBS handles function as the same sort of simultaneous
concealment and display one finds on Citizen's Band radio, from which the
term was adopted. Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of
warez d00dz, crackers,
weenies, spods, and other
lower forms of network life; true hackers travel on their own reputations
rather than invented legendry. Compare nick,
screen name. 2. A magic cookie, often in the form of a
numeric index into some array somewhere, through which you can manipulate
an object like a file or window. The form file
handle is especially common. 3. [Mac] A pointer to a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory; the
extra level of indirection allows on-the-fly memory compaction (to cut down
on fragmentation) or aging out of unused resources, with minimal impact on
the (possibly multiple) parts of the larger program containing references
to the allocated memory. Compare snap (to snap a
handle would defeat its purpose); see also
aliasing bug, dangling pointer.
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