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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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