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Computing (FOLDOC) dictionary
pencil and paper
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An archaic information storage and transmission device that
works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp.
More recent developments in paper-based technology include
improved "write-once" update devices which use tiny rolling
heads similar to mouse balls to deposit coloured pigment. All
these devices require an operator skilled at so-called
"handwriting" technique. These technologies are ubiquitous
outside hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it. Most
hackers had terrible handwriting to begin with, and years of
keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade further.
Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper
technology and often resist using it in any but the most
trivial contexts.