9212osd (01/25/83)
Stephen Tihor (cmcl2!tihor) posted an article on net.eunice titled "Eunice Logical Name misfeature." The word misfeature is not in my desk dictionary, but it sounds as the most clever word for "bug" I've heard in a long time. Is this word commonly used and if so, in what context? Is there such a word as demisfeaturize (for debug)? I realize that this may open up a lot of possibilities for software people tired of the same old words... Orlando Sotomayor-Diaz BTL-HO 201-949-1532 houxa!9212osd
gh (01/25/83)
The word "misfeature" was in Guy Steele's "A.I. Hacker's Dictionary" in 1977, if not earlier. It is a clever portmanteau word describing "a feature that misfired". Since the dictionary has received wide informal distribution, and was intended to be describe words already in use, at least round the MIT AI Lab, it is reasonable to suppose there are quite a number of people out there who use the word. Graeme Hirst
tihor (01/26/83)
#R:houxa:-15100:cmcl2:8500002:000:386 cmcl2!tihor Jan 25 18:09:00 1983 The term misfeature is in fairly common use around here for something which falls into the vague gray area between obvious bugs (things which the designer never intended to happen) and obvious features (things which the users finds reasonable to happen). A misfeature is the dual (or at least a differing view) of the object of the classic retort: "It's not a bug, it's a FEATURE."