Big iron

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For other uses, see Big iron (disambiguation).

Big iron, as the hacker's dictionary, the Jargon File defines it, "refers to large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. Used generally of number crunching supercomputers such as Crays, but can include more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes".

The expression is probably hinted by the slang expression for heavy handguns, defived from the slang "iron" for a handgun ("shooting iron"), as exemplified by the classical country music ballad Big Iron by Marty Robbins about "the ranger with the big iron on his hip". ^{[citation needed]}

The term bears a slightly ironic, but respectful connotation.

The term is used, e.g., in reference to IBM mainframes, often when discussing their comeback/survival after the assault of "Unix boxes". More recently the term is also applied to powerful computer servers and computer ranches, whose steel racks naturally invoke the same association.