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Black Magic: N. A Technique That Works, Though Nobody Really Understands Why.
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:black magic: n. A technique that works, though nobody really
understands why. More obscure than {voodoo programming}, which
may be done by cookbook. Compare also {black art}, {deep
magic}, and {magic number} (sense 2).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
black magic n. [common] A technique that works, though nobody really understands why.
More obscure than voodoo programming, which may be black art, deep magic, and...
voodoo programming: [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] n.
The use by guess or cookbook of an {obscure} or {hairy} system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand....
voodoo programming n. [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] 1.
The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand....
magic: adj. 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explai
compare {automagically} and (Arthur C.) Clarke's Third Law...
black art: n. A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular application or systems area (compare {black magic}).
VLSI design and compiler code optimization were (in their beginnings) considered classic examples of black a...
deep magic n. [poss. from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books] An awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp.
one neither generally published nor available to hackers at large (compare black art)...
deep magic: [poss. from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books] n.
An awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp....
hex: n. 1. Short for {{hexadecimal}}, base 16. 2. A 6-pack of anything (compare {quad}, sense 2).
Neither usage has anything to do with {magic} or {black art}, though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers....
heavy wizardry: n. Code or designs that trade on a particularly intimate knowledge or experience of a particular operating system or language or complex application interface.
Distinguished from {deep magic}, which trades more on arcane *theoretical* knowledge....