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From: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Dictionaries (where to find "klu(d)ge")
Message-ID: <494@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-Mar-85 16:56:51 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.494
Posted: Sat Mar  9 16:56:51 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Mar-85 18:05:54 EST
References: <906@ratex.UUCP> <220@vaxwaller.UUCP>
Reply-To: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 31
Summary: The Hacker's Dictionary

cw@vaxwaller.UUCP (Carl Weidling) writes:
> 
>      But what dictionaries define the word kludge? (I'm not even sure
>      how to spell it because I can't find it in any dictionaries.

Not a dictionary in the proper sense, but a charming and amusing little
book, is
	The Hacker's Dictionary

by Guy L. Steele Jr. with Woods, Finkel, Crispin, Stallman, and Goodfellow.
I paid $8.50 (paperback) in Canada, so it's probably $5 or $6 in the US.

KLUGE, KLUDGE (klooj) Noun.

1. A Rube Goldberg device in hardware or software.
2. A clever programming trick intended to solve a particularly nasty
   case in an efficient, if not clear, manner.  Often used to repair
   BUGS.  Often verges on being a CROCK.
3. Something that works for the wrong reason.
4. Verb. To insert a kluge into a program.  "I've kluged this routine
   to get around that weird bug, but there's probably a better way."
   Also "kluge up."
5. A feature that is implemented in a RUDE manner.

   KLUGE AROUND. To avoid (a problem) by inserting a kluge.

The book makes no pretense to generality, but covers the slang used at
certain university communities over a period of years.  It's a revision
of "the famous 'jargon file'".  It was published in 1983.  It's good.

Mark Brader