Noddy

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The Jargon File

Parts of this article are based on the Jargon File, v. 4.4.7,
a public domain document of hacker jargon.

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noddy
/nod´ee/
Usage: adj.
Etymology: The United Kingdom
Derivation: UK: from the children's books

See Also: toy program


noddy: /nod´ee/ 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.

Sources

Source: noddy, in The Jargon File, version 4.4.7.


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