Gotcha

2 definitions found

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

  gotcha n. A {misfeature} of a system, especially a programming language
     or environment, that tends to breed bugs or mistakes because it is both
     enticingly easy to invoke and completely unexpected and/or unreasonable
     in its outcome. For example, a classic gotcha in {C} is the fact that
     `if (a=b) {code;}' is syntactically valid and sometimes even correct. It
     puts the value of `b' into `a' and then executes `code' if `a' is


     non-zero. What the programmer probably meant was `if (a==b) {code;}',
     which executes `code' if `a' and `b' are equal.
  
  

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

  gotcha
       
           A {misfeature} of a system, especially a
          programming language or environment, that tends to breed
          {bug}s or mistakes because it both enticingly easy to invoke
          and completely unexpected and/or unreasonable in its outcome.
       
          For example, a classic gotcha in {C} is the fact that
       
          	if (a=b) {code;}
       
          is syntactically valid and sometimes even correct.  It puts
          the value of "b" into "a" and then executes "code" if "a" is
          non-zero.  What the programmer probably meant was
       
          	if (a==b) {code;}
       
          which executes "code" if "a" and "b" are equal.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1995-04-17)