Real World
1. Those institutions at which "programming" may be used in the same sentence as
"Fortran", "COBOL", "RPG", "IBM", "DBASE", etc. Places where programs do such
commercially necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as generating
payroll checks and invoices.
2. The location of non-programmers and activities not related to programming.
3. A bizarre dimension in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which
a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5 (see code grinder).
4. Anywhere outside a university. "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the
Real World." Used pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation,
talking of someone who has entered the Real World is not unlike speaking of a
deceased person. It is also noteworthy that on the campus of Cambridge
University in England, there is a gaily-painted lamp-post which bears the label
"REALITY CHECKPOINT". It marks the boundary between university and the Real
World; check your notions of reality before passing. This joke is funnier
because the Cambridge "campus" is actually coextensive with the centre of
Cambridge.
See also fear and loathing, mundane, uninteresting.
Nearby terms:
Real-Time Transport Protocol « real user « Real
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Real World » reaper » reassembly » reboot
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