MIPS
1. Million instructions per second.
The unit commonly used to give the rate at which a processor
executes instructions.
Often rendered by hackers as "Meaningless Indication of
Processor Speed" or in other unflattering ways. This
expresses a nearly universal attitude about the value of most
{benchmark} claims, said attitude being one of the great
cultural divides between hackers and {marketroid}s.
The etymologically incorrect singular "1 MIP" is sometimes
heard.
See also {KIPS} and {GIPS}.
2. {VAX MIPS}.
3.
{Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages}.
4. {MIPS Technologies, Inc.}
[{Jargon File}]
(1996-03-01)