Related:

• can't happen: The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative.
  Often, such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty algorithm...
• firewall code: n. 1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage.
  Since users always want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a system where they can burn themselves....
• firewall code n. 1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage.
  Since users always want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a system where they can burn themselves....
• fencepost error n. 1. [common] A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops.
  From the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need?...
• dead code: n. Routines that can never be accessed because all calls to them have been removed
  or code that cannot be reached because it is guarded by a control structure that provably must always transfer control somewhere else....
• bit rot n. [common] Also bit decay. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will often stop working after sufficient time has passed
  even if `nothing has changed'. The theory explains that bits decay as if they were radioactive....
• bit rot: n. Also {bit decay}. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will often stop working after sufficient time has passed
  even if `nothing has changed'. The theory explains that bits decay as if they were radioactive....
• fencepost error: n. 1. A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops.
  From the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need?...
• pathological adj. 1. [scientific computation] Used of a data set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, esp.
  one that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using....