voodoo programming


voodoo programming

(jargon)(From George Bush's "voodoo economics") The use byguess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, oralgorithm that one does not truly understand. The implicationis that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, onewill 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.

voodoo programming

Using a software routine without really knowing what it does. Voodoo programming often implies copying source code from a book or website with minimal understanding of what takes place when it is executed. See shotgun programming.