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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>by hand</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="../B.html" title="B"/><link rel="previous" href="BWQ.html" title="BWQ"/><link rel="next" href="byte.html" title="byte"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">by hand</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="BWQ.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">B</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="byte.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="by-hand"/><dt xmlns="" id="by-hand"><b>by hand</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adv.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. [common] Said of an operation (especially a repetitive, trivial,
and/or tedious one) that ought to be performed automatically by the
computer, but which a hacker instead has to step tediously through.
&#8220;<span class="quote">My mailer doesn't have a command to include the text of the message
I'm replying to, so I have to do it by hand.</span>&#8221; This does not
necessarily mean the speaker has to retype a copy of the message; it might
refer to, say, dropping into a subshell from the mailer, making a copy of
one's mailbox file, reading that into an editor, locating the top and
bottom of the message in question, deleting the rest of the file, inserting
`&gt;' characters on each line, writing the file, leaving the editor,
returning to the mailer, reading the file in, and later remembering to
delete the file. Compare <a href="../E/eyeball-search.html"><i class="glossterm">eyeball search</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. [common] By extension, writing code which does something in an
explicit or low-level way for which a presupplied library routine ought to
have been available. &#8220;<span class="quote">This cretinous B-tree library doesn't supply a
decent iterator, so I'm having to walk the trees by hand.</span>&#8221;</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="BWQ.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../B.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="byte.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">BWQ </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> byte</td></tr></table></div></body></html>