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MIPS /mips/ n.
[abbreviation] 1. A measure of computing
speed; formally, `Million Instructions Per Second' (that's
10^6 per second, not 2^(20)!); often rendered by
hackers as `Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed' or in
other unflattering ways. This joke expresses an attitude nearly universal
among hackers about the value of most benchmark claims, said
attitude being one of the great cultural divides between hackers
and marketroids. The singular is sometimes `1 MIP' even
though this is clearly etymologically wrong. See also KIPS
and GIPS. 2. Computers, especially large computers,
considered abstractly as sources of computrons. "This is
just a workstation; the heavy MIPS are hidden in the basement."
3. The corporate name of a particular RISC-chip company; among
other things, they designed the processor chips used in DEC's 3100
workstation series. 4. Acronym for `Meaningless Information per
Second' (a joke, prob. from sense 1).
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