Misfeature

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Misfeature \Mis*fea"ture\, n.
     Ill feature. [R.] --Keats.
     [1913 Webster]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:



  misfeature /mis-fee'chr/ or /mis'fee`chr/ n. [common] A feature that
     eventually causes lossage, possibly because it is not adequate for a new
     situation that has evolved. Since it results from a deliberate and
     properly implemented feature, a misfeature is not a bug. Nor is it a
     simple unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the feature in
     question was carefully planned, but its long-term consequences were not
     accurately or adequately predicted (which is quite different from not
     having thought ahead at all). A misfeature can be a particularly
     stubborn problem to resolve, because fixing it usually involves a
     substantial philosophical change to the structure of the system
     involved.
  
     Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface design) arise because
     the designers/implementors mistake their personal tastes for laws of
     nature. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because trade-offs
     were made whose parameters subsequently change (possibly only in the
     judgment of the implementors). "Well, yeah, it is kind of a misfeature
     that file names are limited to six characters, but the original
     implementors wanted to save directory space and we're stuck with it for
     now."
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  misfeature
       
          /mis-fee'chr/ or /mis'fee"chr/ A feature that eventually
          causes lossage, possibly because it is not adequate for a new
          situation that has evolved.  Since it results from a
          deliberate and properly implemented feature, a misfeature is
          not a bug.  Nor is it a simple unforeseen side effect; the
          term implies that the feature in question was carefully
          planned, but its long-term consequences were not accurately or
          adequately predicted (which is quite different from not having
          thought ahead at all).  A misfeature can be a particularly
          stubborn problem to resolve, because fixing it usually
          involves a substantial philosophical change to the structure
          of the system involved.
       
          Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface design) arise
          because the designers/implementors mistake their personal
          tastes for laws of nature.  Often a former feature becomes a
          misfeature because trade-offs were made whose parameters
          subsequently change (possibly only in the judgment of the
          implementors).  "Well, yeah, it is kind of a misfeature that
          file names are limited to six characters, but the original
          implementors wanted to save directory space and we"re stuck
          with it for now."