:cookbook: [from amateur electronics and radio] n. A book of small
code segments that the reader can use to do various {magic}
things in programs. One current example is the
"{{PostScript}} Language Tutorial and Cookbook" by Adobe
Systems, Inc (Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10179-3), also known as
the {Blue Book} which has recipes for things like wrapping text
around arbitrary curves and making 3D fonts. Cookbooks, slavishly
followed, can lead one into {voodoo programming}, but are useful
for hackers trying to {monkey up} small programs in unknown
languages. This function is analogous to the role of phrasebooks
in human languages.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
