juggling eggs

juggling eggs

Keeping a lot of state in your head while modifying aprogram. "Don't bother me now, I'm juggling eggs", means thatan interrupt is likely to result in the program's beingscrambled. In the classic first-contact SF novel "The Mote inGod's Eye", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, an aliendescribes a very difficult task by saying "We juggle pricelesseggs in variable gravity." See also hack mode.