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The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (foldoc)

1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or
hardware works (that is, who {groks} it); especially someone
who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is
a {hacker} if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a
wizard with respect to something only if he or she has
specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker
could become a wizard for something given the time to study
it.

2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to
ordinary people; one who has {wheel} privileges on a system.

3. A Unix expert, especially a Unix systems programmer. This
usage is well enough established that "Unix Wizard" is a
recognised job title at some corporations and to most
headhunters.

See {guru}, {lord high fixer}. See also {deep magic}, {heavy
wizardry}, {incantation}, {magic}, {mutter}, {rain dance},
{voodoo programming}, {wave a dead chicken}.

4. An interactive help utility that guides the user through a
potentially complex task, such as configuring a {PPP} driver
to work with a new {modem}. Wizards are often implemented as
a sequence of {dialog boxes} which the user can move forward
and backward through, filling in the details required. The
implication is that the expertise of a human wizard in one of
the above senses is encapsulated in the software wizard,
allowing the average user to perform expertly.

[{Jargon File}]

(1998-09-07)