Transmission, by Hari Kunzru, pg. 100: "But something mystical persisted, a hint, the presence of a vital spark. A computer booting itself ex nihilo, each stage of activity generating the grounds for the next. A tiny trickle of electrcity to a dormant chip allows it to take a roll call of components..."

"Ex nihilo," translated from the Latin, literally means "out of nothing." It is most commonly (and some might say almost exclusively) used in reference to biblical discussion of God's creation of the universe. In most recent times, a new meaning has emerged in the world of computer programming, referring to the creation of codes that programmers use to initiate certain tasks. These codes are not just altered or augmented from others but originals written by the programmer himself.

Philosophical and Scientific Pointers to Creatio ex Nihilo

One Person's Understanding of the Term