Jargon utility

Small CLI for browsing the Jargon File from your terminal — random entries, term lookups, colored output. Supports both the classic ESR edition and the actively maintained community edition.

"The Jargon File is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), Carnegie Mellon University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It was published in paperback form in 1983 as The Hacker's Dictionary (edited by Guy Steele) and revised in 1991 as The New Hacker's Dictionary (ed. Eric S. Raymond; third edition published 1996)." — Wikipedia

Data sources

• Classic edition — Jargon File 4.1.0 (DocBook XML), last updated 2003 by Eric S. Raymond. Bundled with this repo.
• Community edition — agiacalone/jargonfile, actively maintained. Downloaded on demand with jargon fetch.

Install

Quick (no clone)

uv tool install 'git+https://github.com/rdubar/jargon.git'
# or:
pipx install 'git+https://github.com/rdubar/jargon.git'

From a clone

gh repo clone rdubar/jargon && cd jargon
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e .

Usage

Classic edition (default)

jargon                  # random entry
jargon endian           # look up a term (case-insensitive, partial match ok)
jargon --all            # show all senses for the entry
jargon build            # rebuild JSON from bundled XML

Community edition

jargon fetch            # download & parse community data (~2300 entries)
jargon -c               # random entry from community data
jargon -c ABEND         # look up a term in community data
jargon -c --all         # show all senses

Commands

Flags: --all / -a show all senses · --rebuild / -r force JSON regeneration · --xml / --json override data paths

Data files

• data/jargon.xml — bundled classic DocBook source
• data/jargon.json — generated from XML (auto-built on first run)
• data/community.json — generated by jargon fetch (gitignored, local only)

Notes

• Requires Python 3.10+.
• If the console script isn't on your PATH, run python jargon_tool.py --help.

License

The utility code is MIT licensed — see LICENSE.

The bundled Jargon File data (data/jargon.xml) is copyright 1993 Eric S. Raymond, all rights reserved, and is included here for personal and educational use only.

Author

Roger Dubar — rdubar@gmail.com — github.com/rdubar

Credits

Jargon File 4.1.0 by Eric S. Raymond esr@snark.thyrsus.com — https://catb.org/jargon/

The actively maintained community edition of the Jargon File is at agiacalone/jargonfile — submissions and corrections welcome there.