harsh

adj 1: unpleasantly stern; "wild and harsh country full of hot sand

and cactus"; "the nomad life is rough and hazardous"

[syn: {rough}]

2: disagreeable to the senses; "the harsh cry of a blue jay";

"harsh cognac"; "the harsh white light makes you screw up

your eyes"; "harsh irritating smoke filled the hallway"

3: extremely unkind or cruel; "had harsh words"; "a harsh and

unlovable old tyrant"

4: severe; "a harsh penalty"

5: (of circumstances; especially weather) causing suffering;

"brutal weather"; "northern winters can be cruel"; "a

cruel world"; "a harsh climate; "a rigorous climate";

"unkind winters" [syn: {brutal}, {cruel}, {rigorous}, {unkind}]

6: sharply disagreeable; rigorous; "the harsh facts of court

delays"; "an abrasive character" [syn: {abrasive}]

hash

1. "#", {ASCII} code 35.

Common names: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp;

{crunch}; hex; {INTERCAL}: mesh. Rare: grid; crosshatch;

octothorpe; flash; {ITU-T}: square, pig-pen; tictactoe;

scratchmark; thud; thump; {splat}.

The pronunciation of "#" as "pound" is common in the US but a

bad idea; {Commonwealth Hackish} has its own, rather more

apposite use of "pound sign" (confusingly, on British

keyboards the pound graphic happens to replace "#"; thus

Britishers sometimes call "#" on a US-ASCII keyboard "pound",

compounding the American error). The US usage derives from an

old-fashioned commercial practice of using a "#" suffix to tag

pound weights on bills of lading. The character is usually

pronounced "hash" outside the US

2. {hash coding}.

3. The preferred term for a {Perl} {associative array}.

(1995-03-06)