11 lines
567 B
Plaintext
11 lines
567 B
Plaintext
nasal demons
|
|
|
|
n. Recognized shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any unexpected
|
|
behavior of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct. During a
|
|
discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked When the compiler
|
|
encounters [a given undefined construct] it is legal for it to make demons
|
|
fly out of your nose (the implication is that the compiler may choose any
|
|
arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret the code without violating the ANSI C
|
|
standard). Someone else followed up with a reference to nasal demons, which
|
|
quickly became established.
|