Cruft is a jargon word for anything that is left over, redundant and getting in the way. It is used particularly for defective, superseded, useless, superfluous, or dysfunctional elements in computer software.
Around 1958, the term was used in the sense of "garbage" by students frequenting the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[1] In the 1959 edition of the club's dictionary, it was defined as "that which magically amounds in the Clubroom just before you walk in to clean up. In other words, rubbage".[2] Its author Peter Samson later explained that this was meant in the sense of "detritus, that which needs to be swept up and thrown out. The dictionary has no definition for 'crufty,' a word I didn't hear until some years later".[2] Cruft can also refer to alumni who remain socially active at MIT.[3]
The origin of the term is uncertain, but it may be derived from Harvard University's Cruft Laboratory. Built in 1915 as a gift from a donor named Harriet Otis Cruft,[4] it housed the Harvard Physics Department's radar lab during World War II.
Softwareedit
The FreeBSD handbook uses the term to refer to leftover or superseded object code that accumulates in a folder or directory when software is recompiled and new executables and data files are produced.[5] Such cruft, if required for the new executables to work properly, can cause the BSD equivalent of dependency hell.[6] The word is also used to describe instances of unnecessary, leftover or just poorly written source code in a computer program that is then uselessly, or even harmfully, compiled into object code.[7]
Cruft accumulation may result in technical debt, which can subsequently make adding new features or modifying existing features—even to improve performance—more difficult and time-consuming.
In the context of Internet or Web addresses (Uniform Resource Locators or "URLs"), cruft refers to the characters that are relevant or meaningful only to the people who created the site, such as implementation details of the computer system which serves the page. Examples of URL cruft could include filename extensions such as .php or .html, and internal organizational details such as /public/ or /Users/john/work/drafts/.[8]
Computer hardwareedit
Cruft may also refer to unused and out-of-date computer paraphernalia, collected through upgrading, inheritance, or simple acquisition, both deliberate and through circumstance.[9] This accumulated hardware, however, often has benefit when IT systems administrators, technicians, and the like have need for critical replacement parts. An unused machine or component similar to a production unit could allow near-immediate restoration of the failed unit, as opposed to waiting for a shipped replacement.
^Berners-Lee, Tim (1998). "Hypertext Style: Cool URIs don't change". W3C Style. Retrieved 2007-08-18. What makes a cool URI? /A cool URI is one which does not change. /What sorts of URI change? /URIs don't change: people change them.
cruft, this, article, about, computing, term, other, uses, disambiguation, jargon, word, anything, that, left, over, redundant, getting, used, particularly, defective, superseded, useless, superfluous, dysfunctional, elements, computer, software, contents, his. This article is about a computing term For other uses see Cruft disambiguation Cruft is a jargon word for anything that is left over redundant and getting in the way It is used particularly for defective superseded useless superfluous or dysfunctional elements in computer software Contents 1 History 2 Software 3 Computer hardware 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory edit nbsp Harvard Cruft Laboratory Around 1958 the term was used in the sense of garbage by students frequenting the Tech Model Railroad Club TMRC at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT 1 In the 1959 edition of the club s dictionary it was defined as that which magically amounds in the Clubroom just before you walk in to clean up In other words rubbage 2 Its author Peter Samson later explained that this was meant in the sense of detritus that which needs to be swept up and thrown out The dictionary has no definition for crufty a word I didn t hear until some years later 2 Cruft can also refer to alumni who remain socially active at MIT 3 The origin of the term is uncertain but it may be derived from Harvard University s Cruft Laboratory Built in 1915 as a gift from a donor named Harriet Otis Cruft 4 it housed the Harvard Physics Department s radar lab during World War II Software editThe FreeBSD handbook uses the term to refer to leftover or superseded object code that accumulates in a folder or directory when software is recompiled and new executables and data files are produced 5 Such cruft if required for the new executables to work properly can cause the BSD equivalent of dependency hell 6 The word is also used to describe instances of unnecessary leftover or just poorly written source code in a computer program that is then uselessly or even harmfully compiled into object code 7 Cruft accumulation may result in technical debt which can subsequently make adding new features or modifying existing features even to improve performance more difficult and time consuming In the context of Internet or Web addresses Uniform Resource Locators or URLs cruft refers to the characters that are relevant or meaningful only to the people who created the site such as implementation details of the computer system which serves the page Examples of URL cruft could include filename extensions such as php or html and internal organizational details such as public or Users john work drafts 8 Computer hardware editCruft may also refer to unused and out of date computer paraphernalia collected through upgrading inheritance or simple acquisition both deliberate and through circumstance 9 This accumulated hardware however often has benefit when IT systems administrators technicians and the like have need for critical replacement parts An unused machine or component similar to a production unit could allow near immediate restoration of the failed unit as opposed to waiting for a shipped replacement See also editSoftware bloat Dead code elimination the automatic removal of unnecessary code by compilers Duplicate code Feature creep Muda Japanese term Spaghetti code Non coding DNA VestigialityReferences edit Levy Steven 2010 Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution 25th Anniversary ed O Reilly Media p 8 ISBN 9781449393748 a b Samson Peter 2005 June 1959 AN ABRIDGED DICTIONARY of the TMRC LANGUAGE Retrieved 30 May 2018 Speaking MITese Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retrieved 8 June 2016 Bronze Tablet Erected in Cruft Memorial Laboratory thecrimson com Retrieved 26 November 2014 20 4 16 6 What do I do if something goes wrong FreeBSD Handbook 3rd ed Retrieved 2007 08 18 A nice picture of dependency hell blog disfunksioneel Retrieved 30 May 2018 Cruft TechTarget Retrieved 30 May 2018 Berners Lee Tim 1998 Hypertext Style Cool URIs don t change W3C Style Retrieved 2007 08 18 What makes a cool URI A cool URI is one which does not change What sorts of URI change URIs don t change people change them crufty The Jargon File version 4 4 7 External links edit nbsp Look up cruft in Wiktionary the free dictionary In the Beginning was the Command Line article by Neal Stephenson which includes coverage of the cruft concept Verity Stob s Index of Cruftidity at Dr Dobb s Journal Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cruft amp oldid 1213728598, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
