Can you think of any others?

Scroll lock. To protect your scrolls.

Think that's that wizards get when they're having trouble studying.
- Happy cake day!
- There's an infamous tech support tale dating back to the Windows 95 days of a very religious lady who wanted all of the wizards removed from her computer. Similar for an individual who absolutely did not want any mice around their computer
Or prevent an opposing caster from using one or more scrolls

Polymorphism

The orc becomes a pile of gelatin, quivering, you now must choose what it will become.

Roll for…
- ... seduction
Encapsulation kinda sounds like it could be a spell too. That's 2/3 pillars of OOP.
- The last one was atomization, right? Gets a bit out of fantasy, but can definitely sound magical

World wide web would be an OP spell

A crack forms below you… and suddenly a tunnel collapses inward beneath your feet.

After a short while your fall is arrested. You are now snagged in a web, in the dim light lit from where you fell you can see this web goes on, all around you, seemingly forever.

Heartbleed

a list of named vulnerabilities would be a great starter
- I cast CVE-2014-0160… at the darkness

I am a level 17 Install Wizard.

Installation Wizard - A wizard hired to protect a specific building or location.
- alternatively just an HVAC technician who casts enchantments
  
  "For the last time i am NOT an 'installation wizard', i am an engineer! I didn't spend 5 years studying enchantments just for people to compare me to bedsheet-wearing dementia-addled codgers!"
Roll for intelligence.. 16. The progress of the one hit BEG killing spell is 33%

<many turns later>

Roll for intelligence.. 3. The progress of the one hit BEG killing spell is 96%. That’s the only action you can take on your turn. You better hope the party can stop the army from hitting the power source of this spell before it finishes.

Roll for intelligence… 5. Since that would be more than 100 the progress of the spell rolls back to 91%.

Memory Leak

That one would also be a good name for an EDM group

Unstable Ram

One of those fucked me up real bad in Elden Ring

Terminal shell
Kill daemon
Timeshift
Cloud hosting
Ethernet
Overwrite memory
Free memory
Poison artifical intelligence

Terminal escape

Privilege escalation

Command injection

Dependency injection

i cast insulin

I had a bit too much fun with these :)

Magical Items

The Bandwidth Cap
Cursed item that limits the magical power of it's wearer
The Token Ring
Magical ring that allows the wielder to communicate over large distances. They can receive messages from one token ring and send message to another.
The Memory Barrier
Protective charm that shields the mind from intrusion.
The Shadow Register
A magical ledger that records secrets and hidden locations in the immediate area.
The Superscalar
A legendary shimmering sword that can strike multiple foes in a single attack.

Spells

Loopback
Redirects a spell to its point of origin.
Jabber
Causes the target to produce incoherent speech and lose its train of thought.
Branch Prediction
Gives the caster foresight to predict their opponent's next action.
Traceroute
A tracking spell that reveals the path of a target.
Mask
Hides the caster's true identity.
Hypertransport
Enables instantaneous movement over short distances.
Interrupt
Counterspell to disrupt an enemy's casting.

Spell modifiers

Broadcast
Modifies spell to affect a large area.
Unicast
Modifies spell to affect a single point with maximum damage.
Multicast
Modfies spell to affect multiple selected targets.
Repeater
Modifies spell to recast itself over multiple turns.

Transmission Control Protocol - Modifies teleportation and summoning to be very specific.

Universal Datagram Protocol - see "Shout"
- UDP - See "shout"
  
  I give you credit, not much causes me to actually laugh out loud... like a good, hearty belly laugh. This did, thank you for that.

Halt and Catch Fire

This does not have enough up votes.

Default Gateway

Split Horizon

Routing Overhead

Broadcast Storm

edit:fkn markdown

Split Horizon sounds really high-level.
Split Horizon with Poison Reverse

Hypervisor
time daemon
privilege escalation

The Privilege Escalation hits hard

Asynchronous Threads

Port Forward (this one just sounds like a dope place)

Remote Host

Domain Controller

Immutable Type

Big endian (a very powerful NPC)
Hardware abstraction (a spell that makes all the stuff disappears)
Obfuscation (invisibility spell)
Multiplexing (ability to cast several spells as one)
Dangling reference (when wrong information is given by somebody)
Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (basically crop circles)
Pure virtual method (anything somebody learned but will never use)
Diamond inheritance (when someone in the party dies and all of their money is spread accross the others)

Can you tell what's my job?

I target you and cast polymorphism.

Power word (sudo) Kill!
Embedded systems?
- We have a winner!
Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (basically crop circles)

They're also as mysterious as crop circles in programming. I know how it works but I'm not going to explain to the next poor sap. Such an antipattern. It's in the name, don't do this sort of shit. Stop being clever. Your code should be dumb as fuck
DevOps or Sys Admin?

Ethernet

rowhammer
rainbow table
global interpreter lock
race condition (atrocity?)
core dump

rainbow table

You win the thread. That is straight up out the old school Player's Handbook.

CAT5e sounds like a fifth-edition ruleset

kill all children

reap children
The Bard I played with last campaign did that by casting gravity well next to the exterior wall of an orphanage. He succeeded with your spell.

Defragmentation

It's the lower level spell to use when someone's been hit with Disintegrate. Much cheaper than True Res.

Race condition
Physical Layer
Fast Fourier Transform
COBOL
Penetration testing
Tiger Team
Zombie process
Alice, Bob and Carol (some NPCs)

Race condition is ranger ability after level 3, 5, 9, and 11.
- The druid version is "Create Shortcut".
A horde of COBOLs run out screaming, wielding short swords and round shields.
- Everyone remembers their first monster, the COBOL!
Fortran!

Memory leak

Destructor

Dynamic dispatch

Execute

Sanity check
Wildcard
Merge Bash Overwrite memory
Key binding
Class inheritance

Merge Bash Overwrite memory

That's not an ability, that's an entire encounter and I love it.

Zero Trust: curse. You become suspicious of your allies.

Agile Method

Kill

Clone

Daemon Process

Clone always struck me as something that shouldn't be a spell but is.

Rust - rusts metal. When miscast, makes the target a crab of some sort

Go - Same as "command" spell

Regular Expression - makes any cryptic message understandable in a language you know

Transfer Protocol - allows the teleportation of one packet to a willing host

Read Only - cast on a book, scroll or any other thing with written words. Ensures no further words can be written. No scribbles or any sort of artwork will stick either. The object can still be destroyed

Icon - For a short period, the target of the spell becomes a beloved, or hated, icon of a subject. IE: beloved icon of beauty, hated icon of music.

Master Boot Record - this magical list contains all the master level boots ever created and their current whereabouts

Partition Table - allows any object with at least 2 flat sides to be cut into any shape

I love that Master Boot Record, implies that at some point a group of Artificer-Cobblers created the "Master Boots"; a set of legendary items so powerful that a magical record was also created to track their whereabouts, lest they fall into the wrong hands.

LUT - A table appears 10ft above your target and falls on it dealing 1d6 bludgeoning.

"LOOK! UP! TABLE!"

By pure coincidence it's also the sounds it makes when dropping on you
- Beautiful! It's also a bonus action reaction cantrip.

Artificers use assembly language to cast their spells.

1st level wild shape ability byte.
4th level wild shape ability megabyte.
8th level wild shape ability gigabyte.
9th level wild shape ability terabyte

Bonus 0th level ability: nibble

Disconnect Peripheral: Removes someone's limb.

Critical Vulnerability: Increases critical hit rate.

Memory buffer: Allows you yo remember things better.

Y’all might be interested in the book series by Charles Stross starting with The Atrocity Archives.

Nice thanks

Python runtime. Time for you to run from these pythons bitch.

BSOD. Pretty self-explanatory

Agile development. Raises Dex everytime a new enemy enters vision.

Agile development would be a killer monk ability

Deadlock

Priority inversion

Debugging

Source compilation

Priority inversion sounds frighteningly subtle. You might not notice you’re under the effects of the spell because it manipulates priorities rather than bends will directly.

It still feels like your intent, but you’ve been rendered massively ineffective and it may take ages for someone to suspect magical involvement.
- That's also exactly how it works in computer science
Deadlock is now a game by Valve

Kernel Space - banishes the target to a plane of existence filled with corn

B Tree - an AOE summon of a permanent swarm of bees in the targeted area until the bees all die or leave naturally

Monad - device that transmutes one set of spell components into another. These can be strung together to form very complex things.

Extended Backus-Naur Form - Allows one to transform into a memetic form to be carried in the mind of another; also extends to your clothing and any carried items.

Ring zero
Bootkit/Rootkit
Attacker in the middle
Intercepting proxy
Daemon

Reroot tree: Tree digs itself out of the ground, walks to another location and takes root, as if it's always been there.

Heap sort: More advanced technique for which Reroot tree is a prerequisite for some reason. Arranges assortments of things into neat piles with only one kind of object per pile. Very useful when looking for things in treasure chambers.

"I cast heap sort on the owlbear."

"..."

"The owlbear is sorted into neat piles, the first containing hair/nails/claws/beaks, the second feathers, the third bone, the fourth meat, the fifth blood.."

Ping of death

Bash

Vim (clearly a buff)

Vim (clearly a buff)

That's some grand wizard who's made some named spells. Vim's Inescapable Hut being the most known one.

Cache miss
Bubble Sort
Vectorization

Boot Loop - ties someone's shoelaces together

I could actually see this being a cantrip for a bard or arcane trickster. It's almost innocent in its mischief but would be a worthwhile hindrance on the battlefield.

For shoes without laces and creatures without shoes it could simply loop magical string around them.

Prob just a cut to movement with a dex save at the start of every move (like once per turn but they can avoid it by choosing not to move). Doesn't need to be a high save, but if they fail, they trip.

Since it's a cantrip they can remove the string with an action, and they last a number of turns equal to caster level.

I'd also love to see a DM be creative with how much it effects certain creatures. Centipede? Probably a little pissed but not too hindered by stumbling on one pair of legs. 1 legged Pete? Completely unaffected as he jumps at you with his 1 leg.
Boot Loops, when you can't afford Fruit Loops.

Null pointer – sends the victim on a quest they can never fulfill.

Force Merge

spawn daemon

git clone

Terrible ability. Why would we want to clone gits?
- Cheap henchmen?
- Not clone git. Git clone.
  
  He passes for you anywhere but he doesn’t rebel against you

Not necessarily PC related, but:

Uninterrupted Power Supply

I think a trap in a procedurally generated dungeon I recently ran for my group. It was a magical lightning trap, self resetting

UPS ≈ permanence
Looks exactly like the cursed item - Unreliable Power Source!

Power word: Infinite Recursion

This one’s not quite CS but oh well. Spell check - After a series of unfortunate accidents at the magical university, all novel spells must be submitted to the administration in writing to ensure their safety before first casting.

Root access - Access to the Underdark druid communication network, which is transmitted through a continent-wide system of interconnected tree roots.

Command: Line - A creative use of the command spell that forces an affected creature to spend their turn forming or waiting in an orderly line.

Neural net - The system of control used by an elder brain to control and coordinate illithids under its influence.

Bluetooth sounds like a negative effect. Similar to using Bluetooth in real life.

Master / Slave
Gatekeeper
Anti virus
Force push
Bug
Forever loop
Break condition
Real time operating system
Blockchain
Agility measurement index (not really an ability, but sounds like it could be art of an RPG mechanic)

PowerShell

Get-Date

Read-Host

Remove-Alias

Remove-Event

Sort-Object

Remove Event: 5th level spell, cast as a reaction. Instantly negates the previous action. Spell DC wisdom check.

Spoofing

Cryptojacking

Authentication tokens - Some heirloom jewelry or letter of permission from the local royal family used to prove you are on their mission.

Gap analysis - when your party finds a crevasse or pit and determines if they can jump across.

Buffer - party member who casts buffs, usually a bard.

Microservices - when you barter with gnomes to repair your gear.

i engaged in some gap analysis with your mom last night, sadly my microservices lead to an ultimately unsatisfying evening..

Private Void NULL

Null pointer sounds like a powerful spell
Isn't there a film about saving him?
- Nah, he had "bone spurs".

Hyperconvergence or hypervisor.

Mail storm

Perhaps not that deep "cs" but still :D

BSOD - BLUE SCREEN OF DEAD ☠️

Beat me too it! Blue Screen of Death - a wall that freezes and blinds all players and can only be countered by force-reboot. Found only in the most popular rpg game that's also played by non-rpg-ers and is derised by hardcore rpg-ers!

Additonal power - Also causes infinite ping in mmorpgs

scroll snapping
unit tests
vulnerability
fastboot
root access
abstraction level
unity framework

Silicium Bug = A insect creature made of quartz.

Gate Array = An ancient holy temple with partially defunct portals of unknown origin.

Inversion of control
Bsod
Cycle detection
Port knocking

cycle detection is either a really useful metamagic that lets you cycle through various detection spells and thus be much more aware of your surroundings, or it's the most useless spell ever created since bicycles generally don't exist in fantasy settings.
- It could also break every maze I guess as well.

Lossless Compression isn't actually powerful, its just an improved Lossy Compression which is admittedly terrifying to use in many cases.

So you're saying if I use it... they'll be squished and lose random pieces of themselves?
- Sure, we got him back, but... ever since... he's ... off, somehow.

Factory Reset

Hotspot

System Corruption

Hotspot: generally derided by spellcasters as a pathetic imitation of proper fire magic, but in fact responsible for the normalization of hot water tanks.

Semaphore
Spanning tree
Spinlock
Recursive function

Bounds execption: Allows larger objects to fit in smaller containers, ritual spell effective for 1 day, can be upcast to increase amount of "overfill", some check when retrieving the item for a chance of "corruption" (small chance to retrieve a different item, or have the "overfill" become something different like have the outer edge of a bar of gold be meat)

Paralellization: High level time magic, Allows the target multiple turns to be taken simultaneously, but an equivalent cooldown afterwards (waiting for all threads or jobs to return before being able to continue), so 3 turns at once means 2 turns the target can't do anything after.

Split brain configuration: Allows focusing on multiple concentration checks/spells at once. This could also be called paralellization, or multithreaded.

Pass By Reference enchantment: requires two identical items. Once enchanted, changes to one happen to both. Room for all sorts of shenanigans.

Private field: cast on an area to prevent entry/visibility into it by unauthorized entities. Sounds inside are not audible to unauthorized entities outside of it.

Parallelization would make high level casters utterly broken. One of my favorite spells, because I made it for 3.5 edition, and I haven't had a DM criticize the spell, is Unfailing Missiles.

If I could cast three of them in parallel, I would be able to hit up to 9 targets that are no more than 20° arcs from the last target, each with a missile that does 17d (6+1) points of Force/Sonic Damage split 50/50. Or I can use all of those missile on a single target. If I maximize the spell with 3 12th level spell slots, that's 1,071 damage or 119 damage per missile. There's no save, please refer to the name of the spell. This is basically a 9th level Magic Missile. If I see you, I wollop you.

I would then need to hide for 12 seconds. Not particularly difficult if one has a Contingencied Improved Invisibility, or a Contingencied Screen.
Split brain configuration: Allows focusing on multiple concentration checks/spells at once. This could also be called paralellization, or multithreaded.

Allows you to concentrate on two concentration spells instead of just one. However, the spell itself is concentration.
I would abuse parallelization. Moon druid in owlbear shape with three hits for each action (through druid features and magic items) and a free action each kill (from an elixir), doing three of those at once would end most fights

Fighters would do more

kernelspace
make all
upstream and downstream

28k modem connection sounds *

I always found "The Perceptron" to have such a badass name…. 😅 (Math part was annoying though…)

Gateway Interplanetary filesystem Netmask Daemon Shadow copy Avatar

Doesn't ipfs stand for interplenary file system?
Now that's a final boss

Binary search

Check bit

Control character

Sentinal value

Escape sequence

EDIT:

Git bisect (not sure if this one counts as computer sciency enough though)

Higher order function
Rijndael cypher
Serpent cypher

Shielded Twisted Wire rootkit worm recursive loop MAC address( kinda like a true name i guess) Administrator control

Oomkiller

Piracy wizards may teach you a homing missile spell of linking a magnet to someone and then sending a torrent of bits and pieces their way.

Lightning wizards can teach you how systematically shocking your minions should to some extent boost their efficiency in the same amount of time. They call it 'over clocking'.

And 'distributed denial of service' or 'dedossery', is a mastery of wizards who are just pissed, means sending a ton of said minions to one particular shitty tavern, ordering something and walking away en masse.

wine control launches Wine's sparse control panel (most options are under winecfg). You can use it at fancy parties for fun tricks or to make someone puke.

Boot

Feels like I should DM some Shadowrun or Cryptomancer sessions again. Just to use those.

Memoization

Easily my vote for the most unweildy named concept in software development.

It always reads like a typo of memorization. Not exactly an accident, of course. Memorize is memory + -ize, while memoize is memo + -ize, and memo is short for memorandum, which comes from memory. Both terms refer to some kind of storage and retreival of information. The similarities are deliberate.

My gripe with it is that memo in my head exclusively refers to a one-paragraph email sent to my company to notify me about something. Not remembering something. Definitely not the very specific case of linking input parameters to results of pure functions.

So we have this made-up word that looks suspiciously like an existing word that is related and means something related but is not the same thing, and the words it is actually adapted from don't mean the thing it's supposed to mean. Thanks, I hate it.

Really ought to call memoization what it what it really is. Lazy-loaded lookup tables.

Superuser

Pseudocode
Daemon Thread
Ruby on Rails
Onion Router
Python Commands

All leap to mind.

malloc

Tell me that isn't the name of a demon.

Linearlizability
Serializability
Strict Serializability

Epidemic Protocol

Lock contention Parallelism Buffer overflow

Disaster Recovery sounds like a great party name.

Truncate

Force

Purge

Decimate

Warp transform

Innumerate

Checksum

Out of memory crash

Stuck process

Orphaned process

Killed child process

Force killed child process

Child workers

This just reinforces that one short of piratesoftware saying all programmers are wizards.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G7L6mQxlfVU

I'll just throw out there the old school halt and catch fire (also the name of a really good show I need to rewatch and actually finish sometime) but also who can't love lp0 on fire?

TWAIN
daemon
Gopher
Kerberos
Oracle
Patch
ping
Perl
Python
Samba
Swing
troff
Vim
zip
tar
compress
deflate
Opus
Flac
Frostwire
Prodigy
USENET
nano
pico
Ethernet
Firewire
Wayland

Null
Null Modem
Crossover Cable
Null Modem Cable with Handshake
Request to Send

Edit:
Proxy
Reverse Proxy

Some fun ones here you guys can help me think of their purpose

Print spool MAC address System Time IPV4 and IPV6 Air gap Random Access Memory OS Kernal Memory Contoller South bridge North Bridge Corruption Device Manager Encryption SALT API Key System Services Device Drivers

Float Double Execute Polymorphism Shell

i would go with the OSPF Ritual

DRY

Bootloader
Filesystem
Reboot
Printer (that's the end boss)
sudo
Container
Virtual Machine
Fail over
Backup
Restore

Can you think of any others?

Computer science terms that sound like fantasy RPG abilities

Magical Items

Spells

Spell modifiers