Replicator

2 definitions found

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

  replicator n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this
     could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program (see
     {quine}, {worm}, {wabbit}, {fork bomb}, and {virus}), a pattern in a
     cellular automaton (see {life}, sense 1), or (speculatively) a robot or
     {nanobot}. It is even claimed by some that {{Unix}} and {C} are the
     symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; see {Unix


     conspiracy}.
  
  

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

  replicator
       
          Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this
          could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program
          (see {quine}, {worm}, {wabbit}, {fork bomb}, and {virus}), a
          pattern in a {cellular automaton} (see {life}), or
          (speculatively) a robot or {nanobot}.  It is even claimed by
          some that {Unix} and {C} are the symbiotic halves of an
          extremely successful replicator; see {Unix conspiracy}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]