
Define the word DEADBEEF"DEADBEEF" jargon "Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)"
DEADBEEF /ded-beef/ n. The hexadecimal word-fill pattern for freshly
allocated memory under a number of IBM environments, including the
RS/6000. Some modern debugging tools deliberately fill freed memory with
this value as a way of converting heisenbugs into Bohr bugs. As in
"Your program is DEADBEEF" (meaning gone, aborted, flushed from memory);
if you start from an odd half-word boundary, of course, you have
BEEFDEAD. See also the anecdote under fool and dead beef attack.
"deadbeef" foldoc "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)"
DEADBEEF
/ded-beef/ The hexadecimal pattern
used to fill words of freshly allocated memory under a number
of IBM environments including the RS/6000; equal to
decimal 3,735,928,559 (unsigned) or -559,038,737 (32-bit
signed). As in "Your program is DEADBEEF" (meaning gone,
aborted, flushed from memory).
(1998-06-29)
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