delta: n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a
small or incremental one (this use is general in physics and
engineering). "I just doubled the speed of my program!" "What was
the delta on program size?" "About 30 percent." (He doubled the
speed of his program, but increased its size by only 30 percent.)
2. [Unix] A diff, especially a diff stored under the set of
version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or
RCS (Revision Control System). 3. n. A small quantity, but not as
small as epsilon. The jargon usage of delta and epsilon stems
from the traditional use of these letters in mathematics for very
small numerical quantities, particularly in `epsilon-delta' proofs
in limit theory (as in the differential calculus). The term delta
is often used, once epsilon has been mentioned, to mean a quantity
that is slightly bigger than epsilon but still very small. "The
cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta" means that the cost isn't totally
negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. Common
constructions include `within delta of --', `within epsilon of --':
that is, `close to' and `even closer to'.
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