handle
1. (From Citizen's Band amateur radio slang) An
electronic pseudonym or "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 CB.
Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of {cracker}s,
{weenie}s, {spod}s, and other lower forms of network life;
true hackers travel on their own reputations rather than
invented legendry.
Compare {nick}.
2.
(Macintosh) 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 garbage collection 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}.
[{Jargon File}]
(1995-02-28)