black art

A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication)

mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular

application or systems area (compare black magic). VLSI

design and compiler code optimisation were (in their

beginnings) considered classic examples of black art; as

theory developed they became deep magic, and once standard

textbooks had been written, became merely heavy wizardry.

The huge proliferation of formal and informal channels for

spreading around new computer-related technologies during the

last twenty years has made both the term "black art" and what

it describes less common than formerly. See also voodooprogramming.

[Jargon File]