imanXwin kludge
[1/4] from: ptretter:charter at: 9-Aug-2002 7:34
val: "imanXwin kludge"
kludge:
In information technology, a kludge (pronounced KLOOdzh) is an awkward or clumsy (but
at least temporarily effective) solution to a programming or hardware design or implementation
problem. According to Eric Raymond, the term is indirectly derived from the German klug
meaning clever. Raymond considers "kludge" an incorrect spelling of kluge, a term of
the 1940s with the same general meaning and possibly inspired by the Kluge paper feeder,
a "fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages...devilishly difficult
to repair...but oh, so clever!"
A kludge originates because another, more elegant or appropriate solution is not currently
possible (perhaps because of time constraints). Hardware and software products are sometimes
the result of adding a new and basically incompatible design to the original design rather
than redesigning the product completely. What is a kludge can be a matter of opinion.
Users often have a different opinion than the designers, who understand the problems
that had to be overcome. To the extent that information technology products are combinations
of elements originating from a variety of design philosophies and constraints, almost
any product is bound to contain some element of kludginess.
?
[2/4] from: tomc:darkwing:uoregon at: 9-Aug-2002 10:22
why not... have some more ....
>> do http://www.cs.uoregon.edu/~tomc/dict.r
connecting to: www.cs.uoregon.edu
Script: "Dict" (10-Oct-2001)
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word to check or q? kludge
connecting to: www.dictionary.com
kludge or kluge (klj)
n. Slang A system, especially a computer system, that is constituted of
poorly matched elements or of elements originally inten
ded for other applications.
A clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem.
[From ironic use of earlier kluge, smart, clever, from spelling
pronunciation of German kluge, from Middle High German kluc, fr
om Middle
Low German klk.]kludge v.
kludgy adj.
Pronunciation KeySource: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth EditionCopyright 2000 by Houghton
Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved.
kludge
<jargon> /kluhj/ (From the old Scots "kludgie" meaning an
outside toilet) A Scottish engineering term for anything added
in an ad hoc (and possibly unhygenic!) manner. At some point
during the Second World War, Scottish engineers met Americans
and the meaning, spelling and pronunciation of kludge became
confused with that of "kluge".
The spelling "kludge" was apparently popularised by the
Datamation
cited below which defined it as "An ill-assorted
collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing
whole."
The result of this tangled history is a mess; in 1993, many
(perhaps even most) hackers pronounce the word /klooj/ but
spell it "kludge" (compare the pronunciation drift of mung).
Some observers consider this appropriate in view of its
meaning.
["How to Design a Kludge", Jackson Granholme, Datamation,
February 1962, pp. 30-31].
[Jargon File]
(1998-12-09)
Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, 1993-2001 Denis Howe
kludge 1. /klooj/ n. Incorrect (though regrettably common)
spelling of kluge (US). These two words have been confused in
American usage since the early 1960s, and widely confounded in Great
Britain since the end of World War II. 2. [TMRC] A crock that
works. (A long-ago "Datamation" article by Jackson Granholme
similarly said: "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching
parts, forming a distressing whole.") 3. v. To use a kludge to get
around a problem. "I've kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it
up properly later."
This word appears to have derived from Scots `kludge' or
`kludgie' for a common toilet, via British military slang. It
apparently became confused with U.S. kluge during or after World
War II; some Britons from that era use both words in definably
different ways, but kluge is now uncommon in Great Britain.
`Kludge' in Commonwealth hackish differs in meaning from `kluge' in
that it lacks the positive senses; a kludge is something no
Commonwealth hacker wants to be associated too closely with. Also,
`kludge' is more widely known in British mainstream slang than
`kluge' is in the U.S.
Source: Jargon File 4.2.0
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word to check or q?
On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Paul Tretter wrote:
[3/4] from: whip::cs::unm::edu at: 9-Aug-2002 10:51
iamanXwin kluge:
This came about because for some reason, under X windows, the
font layout engine in REBOL View needed to go through once or
else the text came out confined to a narrow strip running top
to bottom. We haven't tracked down the cause yet, but it
turns out that by doing a throwaway layout ( ie.:
layout [text "iamanXwin kludge"] )
the problem was solved. Apparently evidence of this little
throwaway kludge has been discovered. :-)
-jeff
[4/4] from: ptretter:charter at: 9-Aug-2002 15:41
Yeah, we finally have an explanation.....
Thanks Jeff. I always wondered why that was there.
Paul Tretter