#computer terminology

I just realized something that might be an unintentional pun in the first Tron movie. At several points Sark refers to the Programs on the Game Grid as "conscripts". The word "script" apparently has a few different meanings when it comes to computers, but one definition I found says that it can mean "a program or sequence of instructions that is interpreted or carried out by another program rather than by the computer processor (as a compiled program is)."

”Yori, I want to ask you something.”

“What is it, Tron?”

“You love me, don’t you?”

“Of course I love you, you silly security Program!”

“Yes, but I was wondering… What if I wasn’t a security Program?”

“What do you mean, Tron?”

“I mean… Hypothetically, what if I was a… traveler?”

“A traveler?”

“Yes, like… a Program that moves from System to System, by copying itself, constantly looking to spread out to new places… You know what I mean?”

“But you’re not that kind of a Program, Tron.”

“Yes, of course, but I was just thinking… what if? Would you… still love me then?”

“Oh, Tron, I absolutely would. I promise you… I would still love you if you were a Worm.”

The term "bloatware" is usually used to mean software that is considered unnecessary or unwanted by the user, often referring to various programs pre-installed by the hardware manufacturer, but never actually used by the consumer.

I can imagine "bloatware" being a particularly rude insult in the Tron universe. Programs are usually portrayed as building their identities and sense of self-worth around the idea that their functions are important to the Users. Suggesting that your function is unnecessary and unwanted, that you're just taking up precious disk space and isn't part of the "great plan" of the Users, would be a horrible accusation.

Dynamic RAM:

The way it works on most computers, when you "delete" a file or program (including emptying the "recycle bin" in Windows), it's not actually instantly erased from the memory on the hard drive. It just means that the part of the memory that's occupied by the file/program is marked as being available to be overwritten by new data if necessary. The deleted object becomes part of the "free memory" on the hard drive, in other words. This is why it's possible to perform "data recovery" of deleted files, if you can locate the part of the memory that they were stored in, and they haven't been overwritten with new data yet. It also means that if you really want something to be truly, irrevocably removed from your computer memory, you can use "file shredder" software to make sure that it's overwritten (but even then, there are apparently some advanced data recovery techniques that might be able to recover the erased stuff, completely or partially).

What would this mean in the Tron universe? If we assume that "derez" is just another word for "delete", it could be possible that the Programs we see getting "killed" might be "resurrected" through data recovery. When we see Programs fade away, maybe they've just been relocated to some kind of shadowy limbo in the system memory, awaiting their final overwriting by new data.

Take poor Ram, for example. When Flynn has returned to the Real World after his adventures, it might be possible for him to restore the friendly actuarial Program if he can locate the memory in which he was stored (which shouldn't be too hard for a genius programmer/hacker, right?). He would have to be quick about it, however, since I imagine that deleted files could be overwritten fairly soon in a big corporate network with multiple Users like the ENCOM system. Once he's gotten over the thrill of being back home and having defeated Dillinger, I'd like to think that he hurries over to a computer in the empty offices and does his best to restore his digital companion during the same night, since it might be too late once the building opens for business the next day. I'm sure Roy Kleinberg would appreciate it as well.

I also like to imagine what would happen if you're not quick enough to restore a derezzed program, if their data has already been partially overwritten. Would they show up missing an arm or a leg, or a chunk of their head? Would their mind have been altered in some way?

This could also mean that the digital world has their own versions of "ghosts", depending on what happens to derezzed-but-not-yet-overwritten Programs. Maybe there are stories going around about feeling the presence of dead Programs in places where they used to live, or seeing shadowy images of them in the corner of your eye, or hearing their voices whisper from far away.

I sometimes have really frustrating dreams where, for example, I'm reading a book, and I read something interesting, turn the page... and then I can't find the page I read previously again, no matter how much I flip through the book. Or I'm in a store with cool stuff, find something interesting, put it aside for a moment... and then I can't find it again anywhere. Or I'll get lost in a city, because I can't find the street I was walking on just a few seconds ago.

What I've come to realize is that these dream-frustrations are probably because dream-worlds aren't static, pre-made places, but rather just a jumbled bunch of stuff that my brain makes up as it goes along, and it's not capable of "remembering" any previous details, aside from in the broadest possible strokes. The dream just barrels on ahead with new stuff and forgets the old.