fix

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.To make firm, stable, or fast; to set or place permanently; to fasten immovably; to establish; to implant; to secure; to make definite. [1913 Webster]

An ass's nole I fixed on his head.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

O, fix thy chair of grace, that all my powers May also fix their reverence.— Herbert.[1913 Webster]

His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.— Ps. cxii. 7.[1913 Webster]

And fix far deeper in his head their stings.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

2.To hold steadily; to direct unwaveringly; to fasten, as the eye on an object, the attention on a speaker. [1913 Webster]

Sat fixed in thought the mighty Stagirite.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

One eye on death, and one full fix'd on heaven.— Young.[1913 Webster]

3.To transfix; to pierce. [Obs.] --Sandys. [1913 Webster]

4.(Photog.) To render (an impression) permanent by treating with a developer to make it insensible to the action of light. --Abney. [1913 Webster]

5.To put in order; to arrange; to dispose of; to adjust; to set to rights; to set or place in the manner desired or most suitable; hence, to repair; as, to fix the clothes; to fix the furniture of a room. [Colloq. U.S.] [1913 Webster]

6.(Iron Manuf.) To line the hearth of (a puddling furnace) with fettling.

Syn: To arrange; prepare; adjust; place; establish; settle; determine. [1913 Webster]

1.To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest. [1913 Webster]

Your kindness banishes your fear, Resolved to fix forever here.— Waller.[1913 Webster]

2.To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

To fix on, to settle the opinion or resolution about; to determine regarding; as, the contracting parties have fixed on certain leading points. [1913 Webster]

1.A position of difficulty or embarassment; predicament; dilemma. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

Is he not living, then? No. is he dead, then? No, nor dead either. Poor Aroar can not live, and can not die,— so that he is in an almighty fix. --De Quincey.[1913 Webster]

2.(Iron Manuf.) fettling. [U.S.] [1913 Webster]

1.(Metal.) A mixture of ore, cinders, etc., used to line the hearth of a puddling furnace. [Eng.]

Note: [It is commonly called fix in the United States.] [1913 Webster]

2.(Pottery) The operation of shaving or smoothing the surface of undried clay ware. [1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

1.<networking> Federal Information Exchange.

2.<business, protocol> Financial Information eXchange.

(2001-05-14)

1.<mathematics> The fixed point combinator. Called Y in combinatory logic. Fix is a higher-order function which returns a fixed point of its argument (which is a function).

fix :: (a -> a) -> a fix f = f (fix f)

Which satisfies the equation

fix f = x such that f x = x.

Somewhat surprisingly, fix can be defined as the non-recursive lambda abstraction:

fix = \ h . (\ x . h (x x)) (\ x . h (x x))

Since this involves self-application, it has an infinite type. A function defined by

f x1 .. xN = E

can be expressed as

f = fix (\ f . \ x1 ... \ xN . E) = (\ f . \ x1 ... \xN . E) (fix (\ f . \ x1 ... \ xN . E)) = let f = (fix (\ f . \ x1 ... \ xN . E)) in \ x1 ... \xN . E

If f does not occur free in E (i.e. it is not recursive) then this reduces to simply

f = \ x1 ... \ xN . E

In the case where N = 0 and f is free in E, this defines an infinite data object, e.g.

ones = fix (\ ones . 1 : ones) = (\ ones . 1 : ones) (fix (\ ones . 1 : ones)) = 1 : (fix (\ ones . 1 : ones)) = 1 : 1 : ...

Fix f is also sometimes written as mu f where mu is the Greek letter or alternatively, if f = \ x . E, written as mu x . E.

Compare quine. [Jargon File]

(1995-04-13)

2.bug fix.

(1998-06-25)

The Jargon File

What one does when a problem has been reported too many times to be ignored.