Noddy

3 definitions found

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

  Noddy \Nod"dy\, n.; pl. {Noddies}. [Prob. fr. nod to incline the
     head, either as in assent, or from drowsiness.]
     1. A simpleton; a fool. --L'Estrange.
  
     Syn: tomnoddy.
          [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Zool.)
        (a) Any tern of the genus {Anous}, as {Anous stolidus}.
        (b) The arctic fulmar ({Fulmarus glacialis}). Sometimes
            also applied to other sea birds.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. An old game at cards. --Halliwell.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A small two-wheeled one-horse vehicle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. An inverted pendulum consisting of a short vertical flat
        spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top; --
        used for detecting and measuring slight horizontal
        vibrations of a body to which it is attached.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  noddy /nod'ee/ adj. [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and
     un-useful, but demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written
     by people learning a new language or system. The archetypal noddy
     program is {hello world}. Noddy code may be used to demonstrate a
     feature or bug of a compiler. May be used of real hardware or software
     to imply that it isn't worth using. "This editor's a bit noddy." 2. A
     program that is more or less instant to produce. In this use, the term
     does not necessarily connote uselessness, but describes a {hack}
     sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged while carrying
     on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. "I'll just throw
     together a noddy {awk} script to dump all the first fields." In North
     America this might be called a {mickey mouse program}. See {toy
     program}.
  
  

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

  noddy
       
          /nod'ee/ [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and
          un-useful, but demonstrating a point.  Noddy programs are
          often written by people learning a new language or system.
          The archetypal noddy program is {hello, world}.  Noddy code
          may be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler.
          May be used of real hardware or software to imply that it
          isn't worth using.  "This editor's a bit noddy."
       
          2. A program that is more or less instant to produce.  In this
          use, the term does not necessarily connote uselessness, but
          describes a {hack} sufficiently trivial that it can be written
          and debugged while carrying on (and during the space of) a
          normal conversation.  "I'll just throw together a noddy {awk}
          script to dump all the first fields."  In North America this
          might be called a {mickey mouse program}.  See {toy program}.
       
          3. A simple (hence the name) language to handle text and
          interaction on the {Memotech} home computer.  Has died with
          the machine.
       
          [{Jargon File}]