JargonFile/entries/naive.txt

naive

adj. 1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system;
one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the right
way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs aren't really
good in the appropriate sense). This trait is completely unrelated to
general maturity or competence, or even competence at any other specific
program. It is a sad commentary on the primitive state of computing that the
natural opposite of this term is often claimed to be experienced user but is
really more like cynical user. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take
advantage of some superior but advanced technique, e.g., the bubble sort. It
may imply naivete on the part of the programmer, although there are
situations where a naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more
important to keep the code comprehensible than to go for maximum
performance. I know the linear search is naive, but in this case the list
typically only has half a dozen items. Compare brute force.