pnambic

(jargon)/p*-nam'bik/ (From the scene in the film, "The Wizardof Oz" in which the true nature of the wizard is firstdiscovered: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain").A term coined by Daniel Klein for a stageof development of a process or function that, owing toincomplete implementation or to the complexity of the system,requires human interaction to simulate or replace some or allof its actions, inputs or outputs. The term may also beapplied to a process or function whose apparent operations arewholly or partially falsified or one requiringprestidigitization.

The ultimate pnambic product was "Dan Bricklin's Demo", aprogram which supported flashy user-interface designprototyping.

There is a related maxim among hackers: "Any sufficientlyadvanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo."See magic for illumination of this point.

["Open Channel", IEEE "Computer", November 1981].

Acronym

Definition

PNAMBIC➣Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain