schroedinbug

2 definitions found

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

  schroedinbug
  
     <jargon, programming> /shroh'din-buhg/ (MIT, from the
     Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in quantum physics) A
     design or implementation bug in a program that doesn't
     manifest until someone reading source or using the program in
     an unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at
     which point the program promptly stops working for everybody
     until fixed.  Though (like bit rot) this sounds impossible,
     it happens; some programs have harboured latent schroedinbugs
     for years.
  
     Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1995-02-28)
  

schroedinbug - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  schroedinbug
   /shroh'din.buhg/, n.
  
     [MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in quantum
     physics] A design or implementation bug in a program that doesn't
     manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an
     unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point
     the program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though
     (like bit rot) this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs
     have harbored latent schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug,
     Bohr bug, mandelbug.