JargonFile/entries/uninteresting.txt

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2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
uninteresting
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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.