[net.nlang] kludge and the Devil's DP Dictionary

jnw@uvacs.UUCP (07/16/83)

Reprinted without permission from "The Devil's DP Dictionary" by Stan
Kelly-Bootle, published by McGraw Hill:

	kludge n. & v.trans., also called kluge [Yiddish klug "smart."]
	  1 n. The programmers' vaseline.  2 n. A step in STEPWISE
	  REFINEMENT.  3 n. [From JARGON FILE] Something that works
	  for the wrong reasons.  4 v.trans. To evade the main issue
	  by applying a kludge (to a problem).  See also BUG; ONE-LINE
	  PATCH;  PTF.

and of course

	one-line patch n. [From D. C. Moulton, Ilford, Essex, England.]
	  A KLUDGE so minimal that no testing is necessary.  Corrected by
	  a further one-line patch.  See RECURSION.


This is a slightly uneven but often hilarious book.  I recommend it highly to
people in the business who need a source for witty comments in speeches, etc.

				joe wilson
				Univ. of Virginia
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