undocumented feature
= U =
Unix
uninteresting adj.
1. Said of a problem that, although
nontrivial, can be solved simply by throwing sufficient
resources at it. 2. Also said of problems for which a solution
would neither advance the state of the art nor be fun to design and
code.
Hackers regard uninteresting problems as intolerable wastes of
time, to be solved (if at all) by lesser mortals. Real
hackers (see toolsmith) generalize uninteresting problems
enough to make them interesting and solve them -- thus solving the
original problem as a special case (and, it must be admitted,
occasionally turning a molehill into a mountain, or a mountain into
a tectonic plate). See WOMBAT, SMOP; compare toy problem, oppose interesting.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.