fascist

jargon Said of a computer system with excessive or annoying

security barriers, usage limits, or access policies. The

implication is that said policies are preventing hackers from

getting interesting work done. The variant "fascistic" seems

to have been preferred at MIT.

In the design of languages and other software tools, "the

fascist alternative" is the most restrictive and structured

way of capturing a particular function; the implication is

that this may be desirable in order to simplify the

implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare

bondage-and-discipline language, although that term is

global rather than local.

[Jargon File]

(2003-07-29)