black art

4 definitions found

black art - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Black art \Black" art`\
     The art practiced by conjurers and witches; necromancy;
     conjuration; magic.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: This name was given in the Middle Ages to necromancy,
           under the idea that the latter term was derived from
           niger black, instead of nekro`s, a dead person, and
           mantei`a, divination. --Wright.
           [1913 Webster]

black art - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  black art
      n 1: the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or
           evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world
           [syn: sorcery, black magic, black art, necromancy]

black art - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  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     A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication)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 voodoo programming
     .
  
     [Jargon File]
  

black art - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  black art
   n.
  
     [common] A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication)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
     optimization 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 voodoo programming.