Hexspeak, like leetspeak, is a novelty form of variant English spelling using the hexadecimal digits. Created by programmers as memorable magic numbers, hexspeak words can serve as a clear and unique identifier with which to mark memory or data.

Hexadecimal notation represents numbers using the 16 digits 0123456789ABCDEF . Using only the letters ABCDEF it is possible to spell several words. Further words can be made by treating some of the decimal numbers as letters - the digit " 0 " can represent the letter "O", and " 1 " can represent the letters "I" or "L". Less commonly, " 5 " can represent "S", " 7 " represent "T", " 12 " represent "R" and " 6 " or " 9 " can represent "G" or "g", respectively. Numbers such as 2 , 4 or 8 can be used in a manner similar to leet or rebuses; e.g. the word "defecate" can be expressed either as DEFECA7E or DEFEC8 .

Notable magic numbers [ edit ]

Many computer processors, operating systems, and debuggers make use of magic numbers, especially as a magic debug value.

Alternative letters [ edit ]

Many computer languages require that a hexadecimal number be marked with a prefix or suffix (or both) to identify it as a number. Sometimes the prefix or suffix is used as part of the word.

The C programming language uses the "0x" prefix to indicate a hexadecimal number, but the "0x" is usually ignored when reading it as a word. C also allows the suffix L to declare an integer as long , or LL to declare it as long long , making it possible to write "0xDEADCELL" (dead cell). In either case a U may also appear in the suffix to declare the integer as unsigned , making it possible to write "0xFEEDBULL" (feed bull).

, or LL to declare it as , making it possible to write "0xDEADCELL" (dead cell). In either case a U may also appear in the suffix to declare the integer as , making it possible to write "0xFEEDBULL" (feed bull). In the Intel assembly language, hexadecimal numbers are denoted by a "h" suffix, making it possible to write "0beach" (beach). Note that numbers in this notation that begin with a letter must be prefixed with a zero to distinguish them from variable names.

Visual Basic uses a &H prefix, for example, "&HEADED" (headed).

In Pascal and 6502 assembly language, hexadecimal numbers are denoted by a "$" prefix. This allows for words starting with the letter "S", for example "$EED" (seed).

In Б3-34 programmable calculators alternative hexadecimal alphabet was used, where the symbol "−", "L", "C", "Г", "E", " " (space) were used instead of Latin letters. Using these it was possible to display messages like "EГГ0Г" (error).

PlayStation 3 RSX [ edit ]

In reverse engineering aspects of the Sony PlayStation 3, a number of hexspeak codes were found to either trigger, effect or were present in aspects of communicating to and through the PlayStation 3 Hypervisor in communication to its GPU, the RSX Reality Synthesizer.[35]

These projects were largely born out of PS3 homebrew operating on the PS3's OtherOS which allowed Linux to be installed, initially with extremely limited GPU access.

Code Description 0x1337beef , 0x1337f001 , 0x1337beef , 0x1337f001 Found as part of the RSX Descriptor. 0xf00dbeef The RSX Semaphore Value 0x1337c0d3 and 0x1337babe Begin semaphore value and pad, from the system.[36]

See also [ edit ]