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)