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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>legal</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../L.html" title="L"/><link rel="previous" href="leech-mode.html" title="leech mode"/><link rel="next" href="legalese.html" title="legalese"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">legal</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="leech-mode.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">L</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="legalese.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="legal"/><dt xmlns="" id="legal"><b>legal</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Loosely used to mean &#8216;in accordance with all the relevant
rules&#8217;, esp. in connection with some set of constraints defined by
software. &#8220;<span class="quote">The older =+ alternate for += is no longer legal syntax
in ANSI C.</span>&#8221; &#8220;<span class="quote">This parser processes each line of legal input
the moment it sees the trailing linefeed.</span>&#8221; Hackers often model their
work as a sort of game played with the environment in which the objective
is to maneuver through the thicket of &#8216;natural laws&#8217; to achieve
a desired objective. Their use of <span class="firstterm">legal</span> is flavored as much by this game-playing
sense as by the more conventional one having to do with courts and lawyers.
Compare <a href="language-lawyer.html"><i class="glossterm">language lawyer</i></a>,
<a href="legalese.html"><i class="glossterm">legalese</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="leech-mode.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../L.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="legalese.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">leech mode </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> legalese</td></tr></table></div></body></html>