JargonFile/entries/dusty deck.txt

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2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
dusty deck
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
n. Old software (especially applications) which one is obliged to remain
compatible with, or to maintain ( DP types call this legacy code , a term
hackers consider smarmy and excessively reverent). The term implies that the
software in question is a holdover from card-punch days. Used esp. when
referring to old scientific and number-crunching software, much of which was
written in FORTRAN and very poorly documented but is believed to be too
expensive to replace. See fossil ; compare crawling horror.