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From: suhler@im4u.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Definition:  Kludge
Message-ID: <1736@im4u.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Apr-87 22:35:05 EST
Article-I.D.: im4u.1736
Posted: Tue Apr 14 22:35:05 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Apr-87 01:13:06 EST
Reply-To: suhler@im4u.UUCP (Paul A. Suhler)
Distribution: na
Organization: Univ of Texas Elec & Comp Engr Dept
Lines: 13

Someone asked for a definition of "kludge," but I never saw the
real one.  This is from _The Soul of a New Machine_, by Tracy
Kidder, (c) 1981 by John Tracy Kidder, reprinted without permission:

"Kludge made Alsing imagine a wheel built out of bricks, with
wooden wedges in between them; such a thing might work, but no
sane engineer would be proud to have designed it."

The word originated (I think) with hardware designers, but can
be just as well aplied to software.

-- 
Paul Suhler        suhler@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU	512-474-9517/471-3903