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)
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schroedinbug
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