MIPS: /mips/ n. [abbreviation] 1. A measure of computing speed;
formally, `Million Instructions Per Second' (that's 10^6 per second,
not 2^(20)!); often rendered by hackers as `Meaningless Indication
of Processor Speed' or in other unflattering ways, such as
`Meaningless Information Provided by Salesmen'. This joke expresses
an attitude nearly universal among hackers about the value of most
benchmark claims, said attitude being one of the great cultural
divides between hackers and marketroids (see also BogoMIPS).
The singular is sometimes `1 MIP' even though this is clearly
etymologically wrong. See also KIPS and GIPS. 2. Computers,
especially large computers, considered abstractly as sources of
computrons. "This is just a workstation; the heavy MIPS are
hidden in the basement." 3. The corporate name of a particular
RISC-chip company; among other things, they designed the processor
chips used in DEC's 3100 workstation series. 4. Acronym for
`Meaningless Information per Second' (a joke, prob. from sense 1).
![[prev]](../gif/left.gif){kind=small}
![[up]](../gif/up.gif){kind=small}
![[next]](../gif/right.gif){kind=small}