noddy
/nod'ee/ [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and un-useful, but
demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written by people learning a new
language or system. The archetypal noddy program is hello, world. Noddy code may
be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler. May be used of real
hardware or software to imply that it isn't worth using. "This editor's a bit
noddy."
2. A program that is more or less instant to produce. In this use, the term does
not necessarily connote uselessness, but describes a hack sufficiently trivial
that it can be written and debugged while carrying on (and during the space of)
a normal conversation. "I'll just throw together a noddy awk script to dump all
the first fields." In North America this might be called a mickey mouse program.
See toy program.
3. A simple (hence the name) language to handle text and interaction on the
Memotech home computer. Has died with the machine.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
NOC « NODAL « Nodal Switching System « noddy
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