Meta




<philosophy> /me't*/ or /may't*/ or (Commonwealth) /mee't*/ A prefix meaning one level of description higher.

If X is some concept then meta-X is data about, or processes operating on, X.

For example, a metasyntax is syntax for specifying syntax, metalanguage is a language used to discuss language, meta-data is data about data, and meta-reasoning is reasoning about reasoning.

This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humour turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.

[Jargon File]



< Previous Terms Terms Containing meta Next Terms >
Message Transfer Agent
Messaging Application Programming Interface
Messaging Applications Programming Interface
mess-dos
META
6.001
A#
aggregator
alt bit
Backus-Naur Form
META 5
meta bit
MetaCard
Meta-CASE tool
Metaclass