<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>code police</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../C.html" title="C"/><link rel="previous" href="Code-of-the-Geeks.html" title="Code of the Geeks"/><link rel="next" href="codes.html" title="codes"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">code police</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="Code-of-the-Geeks.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">C</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="codes.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="code-police"/><dt xmlns="" id="code-police"><b>code police</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [by analogy with George Orwell's ‘thought police’] A mythical team of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one's office and arrest one for violating programming style rules. May be used either seriously, to underline a claim that a particular style violation is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest that the practice under discussion is condemned mainly by anal-retentive <a href="../W/weenie.html"><i class="glossterm">weenie</i></a>s. “<span class="quote">Dike out that goto or the code police will get you!</span>” The ironic usage is perhaps more common.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="Code-of-the-Geeks.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../C.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="codes.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Code of the Geeks </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> codes</td></tr></table></div></body></html>