No-op

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The Jargon File Parts of this article are based on the Jargon File, v. 4.4.7, a public domain document of hacker jargon.

no-op

/noh´op/ Usage: n. v. See Also: great-wall

no-op: /noh´op/ n. v.

alt.: NOP /nop/ [no operation]

1. A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries).
2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going on upstairs, or both. As in "He's a no-op."
3. Any operation or sequence of operations with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being told to go away. "Oh, well, that was a no-op." Hot-and-sour soup (see great-wall) that is insufficiently either is no-op soup; so is wonton soup if everybody else is having hot-and-sour.

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