Ad-hockery

2 definitions found

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

  ad-hockery /ad-hok'*r-ee/ n. [Purdue] 1. Gratuitous assumptions made
     inside certain programs, esp. expert systems, which lead to the
     appearance of semi-intelligent behavior but are in fact entirely
     arbitrary. For example, fuzzy-matching of input tokens that might be
     typing errors against a symbol table can make it look as though a
     program knows how to spell. 2. Special-case code to cope with some


     awkward input that would otherwise cause a program to {choke}, presuming
     normal inputs are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular way. Also
     called `ad-hackery', `ad-hocity' (/ad-hos'*-tee/), `ad-crockery'. See
     also {ELIZA effect}.
  
  

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

  ad-hockery
       
           /ad-hok'*r-ee/ (Purdue) 1. Gratuitous assumptions
          made inside certain programs, especially {expert system}s,
          which lead to the appearance of semi-intelligent behaviour but
          are in fact entirely arbitrary.  For example, {fuzzy-matching}
          of input tokens that might be typing errors against a symbol
          table can make it look as though a program knows how to spell.
       
          2. Special-case code to cope with some awkward input that
          would otherwise cause a program to fail, presuming normal
          inputs are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular way.
          Also called "ad-hackery", "ad-hocity" (/ad-hos'*-tee/),
          "ad-crockery".
       
          See also {ELIZA effect}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1995-01-05)