tool
1. A program used primarily to create, manipulate,
modify, or analyse other programs, such as a compiler or an
editor or a cross-referencing program. Opposite: {app},
{operating system}.
2. A {Unix} {application program} with a simple, "transparent"
(typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be
used in programmed combination with other tools (see {filter},
{plumbing}).
3. ({MIT}: general to students there) To work; to
study (connotes tedium). The {TMRC} Dictionary defined this
as "to set one's brain to the grindstone". See {hack}.
4. ({MIT}) A student who studies too much and
hacks too little. MIT's student humour magazine rejoices in
the name "Tool and Die".
[{Jargon File}]
(1996-12-12)