OT: Meaning of "monkey"

[Luis M. González]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, Jägermonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

Luis

 

[Kushal Kumaran]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, Jägermonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

These might help you get the gist:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/code-monkey.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/tape-monkey.html

 

[Robert Kern]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, Jägermonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

Partly because "monkey" is just a funny word.

As for monkey-patching, it came from the Zope community:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_patching

--
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco

 

[Grant Edwards]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, J?germonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

In colloquial English, "<something>-monkey" is a slang term for a
person who does a particular job for a living. For example "grease
monkey" is a slang term for an auto mechanic. A "code monkey" is
somebody who writes code for a living.

It can be slightly derogitory in some situations since it implies that
the task is mechanical and repetitive and doesn't require a lot of
creative thinking.

However, it can be used among peers in an affectionate way. One may
refer to one's peer as "code monkey" without offense, but a manager
could not refer to one of his employees as a "code monkey" without
risking it being seen as an insult.

Many people are accustomed to speaking anthopomorphically about
computers and programs, so when somebody writes a program that does
"foo", the name "foo monkey" seems natural for that program.

 

[Robert Kern]

Many people are accustomed to speaking anthopomorphically about

"simiomorphically"?

--
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco

 

[Mel]

However, it can be used among peers in an affectionate way. One may
refer to one's peer as "code monkey" without offense, but a manager
could not refer to one of his employees as a "code monkey" without
risking it being seen as an insult.

Somewhere on the Internet there's a particularly brilliant pop song called
"Code Monkey".

Mel.

 

[Jon Clements]

In colloquial English, "<something>-monkey" is a slang term for a
person who does a particular job for a living.  For example "grease
monkey" is a slang term for an auto mechanic.  A "code monkey" is
somebody who writes code for a living.

It can be slightly derogitory in some situations since it implies that
the task is mechanical and repetitive and doesn't require a lot of
creative thinking.

However, it can be used among peers in an affectionate way.  One may
refer to one's peer as "code monkey" without offense, but a manager
could not refer to one of his employees as a "code monkey" without
risking it being seen as an insult.

Many people are accustomed to speaking anthopomorphically about
computers and programs, so when somebody writes a program that does
"foo", the name "foo monkey" seems natural for that program.

--
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! I don't know WHY I
                                  at               said that ... I think it
                              gmail.com            came from the FILLINGS in
                                                   my rear molars ...

Can I take the slight risk that actually it can also be (as you said
'affectionately') in a very positive sense. The same way "geek" or
"nerd" can be applied. I used to be called "Big Geek" from the last
company I worked for on PAYE, but that was a compliment. But, I've
heard my step-dad call someone a "Geek" which is derogatory.

No winning when you have language that can mean "bad" (in meaning
"wicked/very good/awesome" (and even 'wicked' means good sometimes -
as in enthusiasm for an idea)) or actually "bad/not good [add your own
synonyms]". All valid, but which is good/bad

Anyway, this' a group for Python, not English

Feel better for my rant


Jon.

 

[Tim Wintle]

Somewhere on the Internet there's a particularly brilliant pop song
called "Code Monkey".

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2006/04/14/thing-a-week-29-code-monkey/

(he's linked to the mp3 from there)

 

[Phlip]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, Jägermonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

Luis

Better at typing than thinking.

 

[Mensanator]

Better at typing than thinking.

Really? I thought it was more of a reference to Eddington, i.e., given
enough time even a monkey can type out a program.

 

[Emile van Sebille]

Better at typing than thinking.

Really? I thought it was more of a reference to Eddington, i.e., given
enough time even a monkey can type out a program.[/QUOTE]

I like the quote that went along the lines of 'here we are, and no we
haven't'

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

djc a écrit :

and never call the Librarian a monkey

ook ?!?

 

[Den]

Webmonkey, Greasemonkey, monkey-patching, Tracemonkey, Jägermonkey,
Spidermonkey, Mono (monkey in spanish), codemonkey, etc, etc, etc...

Monkeys everywhere.
Sorry for the off topic question, but what does "monkey" mean in a
nerdy-geek context??

Luis

To go even more off topic, I remember Trunk Monkey commercials.

Also, I remember a web site whose intentions was to simulate monkeys
typing Shakespeare. They had set up a distributed system where you
could contribute your computer to providing random characters, which
they compared to a selected set of Shakespeare's plays. Just before
the site disappeared (or I lost track of it), they had received
strings representing the first maybe 15 or 20 characters of several
plays.

Den

 

[Gib Bogle]

I prefer to think of myself as a code-ape - I look down on code-monkeys.

 

[Mensanator]

I prefer to think of myself as a code-ape - I look down on code-monkeys.

Why? They have prehensile tails.