JargonFile/entries/noddy.txt

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noddy
/nodee/ , adj. [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and un-useful, but
demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written by people learning a
new language or system. The archetypal noddy program is hello world. Noddy
code may be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler. May be used
of real hardware or software to imply that it isn't worth using. This
editor's a bit noddy. 2. A program that is more or less instant to produce.
In this use, the term does not necessarily connote uselessness, but
describes a hack sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged
while carrying on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. I'll just
throw together a noddy awk script to dump all the first fields. In North
America this might be called a mickey mouse program. See toy program.