[common; from mathematical usage]
Combining simplicity, power, and a certain ineffable grace of
design. Higher praise than `clever', `winning', or even
cuspy.
The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry, probably best known for his classic children's
book "The Little Prince", was also an aircraft designer. He
gave us perhaps the best definition of engineering elegance when he
said "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there
is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take
away."
brute force adj.
Describes a primitive programming style
one in which the programmer relies on the computer's processing
power instead of using his or her own intelligence to simplify the
problem, often ignoring problems of scale and applying naive
methods suited to small problems directly to large ones....
