Cruft

1 definition found

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

  cruft /kruhft/ [very common; back-formation from {crufty}] 1. n. An
     unpleasant substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft; the
     TMRC Dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a broom only
     produces more. 2. n. The results of shoddy construction. 3. vt. [from
     `hand cruft', pun on `hand craft'] To write assembler code for something
     normally (and better) done by a compiler (see {hand-hacking}). 4. n.


     Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code. 5.
     [University of Wisconsin] n. Cruft is to hackers as gaggle is to geese;
     that is, at UW one properly says "a cruft of hackers".