Kluge

2 definitions found

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

  kluge /klooj/ [from the German `klug', clever; poss. related to Polish
     `klucz' (a key, a hint, a main point)] 1. n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath
     Robinson) device, whether in hardware or software. 2. n. A clever
     programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an
     expedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often
     involves {ad-hockery} and verges on being a {crock}. 3. n. Something


     that works for the wrong reason. 4. vt. To insert a kluge into a
     program. "I've kluged this routine to get around that weird bug, but
     there's probably a better way." 5. [WPI] n. A feature that is
     implemented in a {rude} manner.
  
     Nowadays this term is often encountered in the variant spelling
     `kludge'. Reports from {old fart}s are consistent that `kluge' was the
     original spelling, reported around computers as far back as the
     mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of _hardware_ kluges. In
     1947, the "New York Folklore Quarterly" reported a classic shaggy-dog
     story `Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker' then current in the Armed Forces, in
     which a `kluge' was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial
     function. Other sources report that `kluge' was common Navy slang in the
     WWII era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but
     consistently failed at sea.
  
     However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a decade
     older. Several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a
     device called a "Kluge paper feeder", an adjunct to mechanical printing
     presses. Legend has it that the Kluge feeder was designed before small,
     cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly
     complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and
     synchronize all its operations from one motive driveshaft. It was
     accordingly temperamental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and
     devilishly difficult to repair -- but oh, so clever! People who tell
     this story also aver that `Kluge' was the name of a design engineer.
  
     There is in fact a Brandtjen & Kluge Inc., an old family business that
     manufactures printing equipment - interestingly, their name is
     pronounced /kloo'gee/! Henry Brandtjen, president of the firm, told me
     (ESR, 1994) that his company was co-founded by his father and an
     engineer named Kluge /kloo'gee/, who built and co-designed the original
     Kluge automatic feeder in 1919. Mr. Brandtjen claims, however, that this
     was a _simple_ device (with only four cams); he says he has no idea how
     the myth of its complexity took hold. Other correspondents differ with
     Mr. Brandtjen's history of the device and his allegation that it was a
     simple rather than complex one, but agree that the Kluge automatic
     feeder was the most likely source of the folklore.
  
     {TMRC} and the MIT hacker culture of the early '60s seems to have
     developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some WWII military
     slang (see also {foobar}). It seems likely that `kluge' came to MIT via
     alumni of the many military electronics projects that had been located
     in Cambridge (many in MIT's venerable Building 20, in which {TMRC} is
     also located) during the war.
  
     The variant `kludge' was apparently popularized by the {Datamation}
     article mentioned above; it was titled "How to Design a Kludge"
     (February 1962, pp. 30, 31). This spelling was probably imported from
     Great Britain, where {kludge} has an independent history (though this
     fact was largely unknown to hackers on either side of the Atlantic
     before a mid-1993 debate in the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers over
     the First and Second Edition versions of this entry; everybody used to
     think {kludge} was just a mutation of {kluge}). It now appears that the
     British, having forgotten the etymology of their own `kludge' when
     `kluge' crossed the Atlantic, repaid the U.S. by lobbing the `kludge'
     orthography in the other direction and confusing their American cousins'
     spelling!
  
     The result of this history is a tangle. Many younger U.S. hackers
     pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrectly for its meaning
     and pronunciation, as `kludge'. (Phonetically, consider huge, refuge,
     centrifuge, and deluge as opposed to sludge, judge, budge, and fudge.
     Whatever its failings in other areas, English spelling is perfectly
     consistent about this distinction.) British hackers mostly learned
     /kluhj/ orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least
     consistent. European hackers have mostly learned the word from written
     American sources and tend to pronounce it /kluhj/ but use the wider
     American meaning!
  
     Some observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word's
     meaning.
  
  

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

  kluge
       
           /klooj/, /kluhj/ (From German "klug" /kloog/ - clever
          and Scottish "{kludge}") 1. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath
          Robinson) device, whether in {hardware} or {software}.
       
          The spelling "kluge" (as opposed to "kludge") was used in
          connection with computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at
          that time, was used exclusively of *hardware* kluges.
       
          2.  A clever programming trick intended to solve
          a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner.
          Often used to repair bugs.  Often involves {ad-hockery} and
          verges on being a {crock}.  In fact, the TMRC Dictionary
          defined "kludge" as "a crock that works".
       
          3. Something that works for the wrong reason.
       
          4. ({WPI}) A {feature} that is implemented in a {rude} manner.
       
          In 1947, the "New York Folklore Quarterly" reported a classic
          shaggy-dog story "Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker" then current in
          the Armed Forces, in which a "kluge" was a complex and
          puzzling artifact with a trivial function.  Other sources
          report that "kluge" was common Navy slang in the WWII era for
          any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but
          consistently failed at sea.
       
          However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a
          decade older.  Several respondents have connected it to the
          brand name of a device called a "Kluge paper feeder" dating
          back at least to 1935, an adjunct to mechanical printing
          presses.  The Kluge feeder was designed before small, cheap
          electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a
          fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to
          both power and synchronise all its operations from one motive
          driveshaft.  It was accordingly tempermental, subject to
          frequent breakdowns, and devilishly difficult to repair - but
          oh, so clever!  One traditional folk etymology of "klugen"
          makes it the name of a design engineer; in fact, "Kluge" is a
          surname in German, and the designer of the Kluge feeder may
          well have been the man behind this myth.
       
          {TMRC} and the MIT hacker culture of the early 1960s seems to
          have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some
          WWII military slang (see also {foobar}).  It seems likely that
          "kluge" came to MIT via alumni of the many military
          electronics projects run in Cambridge during the war (many in
          MIT's venerable Building 20, which housed {TMRC} until the
          building was demolished in 1999).
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (2002-10-02)