nasal demons

2 definitions found

nasal demons - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  nasal demons
  
     Recognised shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any
     unexpected behaviour of a C compiler on encountering an
     undefined construct.  During a discussion on that group in
     early 1992, a regular remarked "When the compiler encounters
     [a given undefined construct] it is legal for it to make
     demons fly out of your nose" (the implication is that the
     compiler may choose any arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret
     the code without violating the ANSI C standard).  Someone
     else followed up with a reference to "nasal demons", which
     quickly became established.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

nasal demons - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  nasal demons
   n.
  
     Recognized shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any
  unexpected
     behavior of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct.
     During a discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked
     "When the compiler encounters [a given undefined construct] it is
     legal for it to make demons fly out of your nose" (the implication is
     that the compiler may choose any arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret
     the code without violating the ANSI C standard). Someone else
  followed
     up with a reference to "nasal demons", which quickly became
     established. The original post is web-accessible at
     http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=10195%40ksr.com.