signature

n 1: your name written in your own handwriting

2: a distinguishing style; "this room needs a woman's touch"

[syn: {touch}]

3: a melody used to identify a performer or a dance band or

radio/tv program [syn: {signature tune}, {theme song}]

4: the sharps or flats that follow the clef and indicate the

key [syn: {key signature}]

5: a sheet with several pages printed on it; it folds to page

size and is bound with other signatures to form a book

signature

1. A set of function symbols with {arities}.

2. (Or sig) A few lines of information about the

sender of an {electronic mail} message or {news} {posting}.

Most {Unix} mail and news software will {automagically} append

a signature from a file called .signature in the user's {home

directory} to outgoing mail and news.

A signature should give your real name and your {e-mail

address} since, though these appear in the {header}s of your

messages, they may have been {munge}d by the intervening

software. It is currently (1994) hip to include the {URL} of

your {home page} on the {World-Wide Web} in your sig.

The composition of one's sig can be quite an art form,

including an ASCII logo or one's choice of witty sayings (see

{sig quote}, {fool file, the}); but large sigs are a waste of

{bandwidth}, and it has been observed that the size of one's

sig block is usually inversely proportional to one's prestige

on the net.

See also {doubled sig}, {sig virus}.

2. A concept very similar to {abstract base

class}es except that they have their own {hierarchy} and can

be applied to compiled {class}es. Signatures provide a means

of separating {subtyping} and {inheritance}. They are

implemented as patches to {GCC} 2.5.2 by Gerald Baumgartner

.

{(ftp://ftp.cs.purdue.edu/pub/gb/)}

(1996-02-26)