voodoo programming
<jargon> (From George Bush's "voodoo economics") The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and *nobody* understands it. Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken. [Jargon File] (1995-03-10) | ||||
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Voodoo programming Definition from Computer & Internet Dictionaries & Glossaries
| Jargon File |
voodoo programming
n. [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] 1. The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken. 2. Things programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway, and which sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything.
n. [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] 1. The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken. 2. Things programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway, and which sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything.
Voodoo programming Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
| hEnglish - advanced version |
voodoo programming
voodoo programming
(from george bush's "voodoo economics") the use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. the implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and *nobody* understands it.
voodoo programming
(from george bush's "voodoo economics") the use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. the implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and *nobody* understands it.
Voodoo programming Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries
| Wikipedia English - The Free Encyclopedia |
Voodoo programming
Voodoo programming (a term derived from 'voodoo economics') is a tongue-in-cheek term for using a programming device, system or language which one does not fully understand. The implication is that the end result should not actually work, or even if it does work one does not understand why it works properly. The term can also apply to doing something which you know should not work, but actually does work, such as successfully recompiling some code which refused to compile the first time. Some voodoo programming is probably due to spurious glitches, subtle bugs (such as uninitialized data), or incorrect/misleading documentation in the compiler, APIs, or OS.
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