schroedinbug

schroedinbug

(jargon, programming)/shroh'din-buhg/ (MIT, from theSchroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in quantum physics) Adesign or implementation bug in a program that doesn'tmanifest until someone reading source or using the program inan unusual way notices that it never should have worked, atwhich point the program promptly stops working for everybodyuntil fixed. Though (like bit rot) this sounds impossible,it happens; some programs have harboured latent schroedinbugsfor years.

Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.