JargonFile/entries/magic.txt

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2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
magic
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
A feature not generally publicized that allows something otherwise
impossible, or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. 4. n.
The ultimate goal of all engineering development, elegance in the extreme;
from the first corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any technology
distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. Parodies playing on
these senses of the term abound; some have made their way into serious
documentation, as when a MAGIC directive was described in the Control Card
Reference for GCOS c.1978. For more about hackish magic , see Appendix A.
Compare black magic , wizardly , deep magic , heavy wizardry.