Flops?

  I’ve never been good at abbreviations, puzzled when everybody else got it. Clearly MY problem, whatever its undiagnosed cause. But lately I’ve come across quite a few cases where expecting the general reader to get it is something of a stretch. Writers in the world of journalism have come to count on an “in” audience of which I am not a member.  I may be in a minority, but I am far from alone. Look at an example.

“Although impressive, Summit can be seen as a placeholder. Supercomputers that are five times faster — 1,000 petaflops, or an exaflop — are in the works, both abroad and in the United States.”

   Are we supposed to know what those “flops” are? From where? In the past, the world caught up with the experts. No doubt it will again; but it hasn’t yet.