computron
 /kom'pyoo?tron`/, n.

    1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining instruction speed
    and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in instructions-per-second times
    megabytes-of-main-store times megabytes-of-mass-storage. ?That machine
    can't run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have enough computrons!? This usage is
    usually found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible
    commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See bitty box, 
    Get a real computer!, toy, crank.

    2. A mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of
    computation or information, in much the same way that an electron bears one
    unit of electric charge (see also bogon). An elaborate pseudo-scientific
    theory of computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the
    molecules in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued
    that an object melts because the molecules have lost their information
    about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted
    computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and require air
    conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to
    cool down an object by placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is
    believed that this may also explain why machines that work at the factory
    fail in the computer room: the computrons there have been all used up by
    the other hardware. (The popularity of this theory probably owes something
    to the Warlock stories by Larry Niven, the best known being What Good is a
    Glass Dagger?, in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource
    called mana.)

computron

    /kom'pyoo-tron"/ 1. A notional unit of computing power
   combining execution speed and storage capacity.  E.g. "That
   machine can't run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have enough computrons!"

   2. A mythical subatomic particle that carries computation or
   information, in much the same way that an electron carries
   electric charge (see also bogon).

   [Jargon File]

   (2013-03-02)