prime time

(From TV programming) Normal high-usage hours on a

time-sharing system; the day shift. Avoidance of prime time

was traditionally given as a major reason for night mode

hacking. The rise of the personal workstation has rendered

this term, along with time-sharing itself, almost obsolete.

The hackish tendency to late-night hacking runs has changed

not a bit.

[Jargon File]

(1995-01-18)