grok /grok/, var. /grok/ vt. [common; from the novel "Stranger in a
Strange Land", by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning
literally `to drink' and metaphorically `to be one with'] The emphatic
form is `grok in fullness'. 1. To understand. Connotes intimate and
exhaustive knowledge. When you claim to `grok' some knowledge or
technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a
detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of
your identity. For example, to say that you "know" LISP is simply to
assert that you can code in it if necessary - but to say you "grok" LISP
is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of
the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of
programming. Contrast zen, which is similar supernal understanding
experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark. 2. Used of
programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. "Almost all C
compilers grok the `void' type these days."
Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)
grok
/grok/, /grohk/ (From the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land",
by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning
literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with")
1. To understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes
intimate and exhaustive knowledge.
Contrast zen, which is similar supernal understanding
experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark.
2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient
understanding. "Almost all C compilers grok the "void" type
these days."
[{Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
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