EBCDIC: /eb´s@·dik/, /eb´see`dik/, /eb´k@·dik/, n.
[abbreviation, Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code]

An alleged character set used on IBM dinosaurs. It exists in at least six
mutually incompatible versions, all featuring such delights as
non-contiguous letter sequences and the absence of several ASCII
punctuation characters fairly important for modern computer languages
(exactly which characters are absent varies according to which version of
EBCDIC you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from punched card code in
the early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic (see
connector conspiracy), spurning the already established ASCII standard.
Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, but IBM's own description
of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert between them is still internally
classified top-secret, burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very
name of EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of purest evil.