Brittle Adj. Said Of Software That Is Functional But Easily Broken By Changes In Operating Environment Or Configuration, Or By Any Minor Tweak To The Software Itself.

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brittle adj.

Said of software that is functional but
easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration,
or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system
that responds inappropriately and disastrously to abnormal but
expected external stimuli; e.g., a file system that is usually
totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle. This
term is often used to describe the results of a research effort
that were never intended to be robust, but it can be applied to
commercial software, which (due to closed-source development)
displays the quality far more often than it ought to. Oppose
robust.

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