Demo

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  demo
       n : a visual presentation showing how something works; "the
           lecture was accompanied by dramatic demonstrations"; "the
           lecturer shot off a pistol as a demonstration of the
           startle response" [syn: {demonstration}]
       v : show or demonstrate something to an interested audience;


           "She shows her dogs frequently"; "We will demo the new
           software in Washington" [syn: {show}, {exhibit}, {present},
            {demonstrate}]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  demo /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To demonstrate a
     product or prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to
     manifest than any number of {test} runs, especially when important
     people are watching. 2. n. The act of demoing. "I've gotta give a demo
     of the drool-proof interface; how does it work again?" 3. n. Esp. as
     `demo version', can refer either to an early, barely-functional version
     of a program which can be used for demonstration purposes as long as the
     operator uses _exactly_ the right commands and skirts its numerous bugs,
     deficiencies, and unimplemented portions, or to a special version of a
     program (frequently with some features crippled) which is distributed at
     little or no cost to the user for enticement purposes. 4. [{demoscene}]
     A sequence of {demoeffect}s (usually) combined with self-composed music
     and hand-drawn ("pixelated") graphics. These days (1997) usually built
     to attend a {compo}. Often called `eurodemos' outside Europe, as most of
     the {demoscene} activity seems to have gathered in northern Europe and
     especially Scandinavia. See also {intro}, {dentro}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  demo
       
          /de'moh/ 1. A demonstration of a product, often of an early
          version or prototype.  A demo is a far more effective way of
          inducing bugs to manifest themselves than any number of {test}
          runs, especially when important people are watching.
       
          2. {demo version}.
       
          3. A program written to demonstrate the programmer's coding
          ability and/or the power of the computer it runs on.  Such
          demos are nearly always written in {machine code} and
          traditionally feature scrolling text about the author, his
          friends, his code and anything else he fancies and animated
          graphics.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1994-11-04)