Hackers are exasperated by the suits' breathless promises to customers of features that are extremely difficult to program or that violate the laws of physics. At least to hear the hackers talk, the more awful computer jargon can be attributed to the management. The answer is certainly not to sit down and memorize a glossary as if it was high school Latin homework. Instead, think of the circumstances in which you actually welcome jargon. You are at the parts counter at Sears desperately pantomiming and circumlocuting, begging for the long rubber thingummybob that keeps the soapy water from getting all over the floor.
Necessity is the mother of vocabulary.
Most people learn what RAM means when they first discover they need more of it. The trick to mastering computer jargon is first to master the computer. As the widgets and rituals become second nature, they turn into mental pegs upon which to hang the words. For centuries English has been snarfing up the jargon of various cliques, cults, guilds, and subcultures. If you ever find yourself longing for a language with a more orderly admissions procedure, I give you French.