fracture

n 1: breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty

fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a

fall" [syn: {break}]

2: (geology) a fracture in the earth's crust with displacement

of one side with respect to the other; "they built it

right on the San Andreas fault" [syn: {fault}, {geological

fault}, {fault line}, {break}]

3: the act of cracking something [syn: {crack}, {cracking}]

v 1: violate or abuse; "This writer really fractures the

language"

2: interrupt, break, or destroy; "fracture the balance of

power"

3: break into pieces; "The pothole fractured a bolt on the

axle"

4: become fractured: "The tibia fractured from the blow of the

iron pipe"

5: break: "She broke her clavicle"

6: fracture a bone of: "I broke my foot while playing hockey"

[syn: {break}]

feature

1. A good property or behaviour (as of a program).

Whether it was intended or not is immaterial.

2. An intended property or behaviour (as of a program).

Whether it is good or not is immaterial (but if bad, it is

also a {misfeature}).

3. A surprising property or behaviour; in particular, one that

is purposely inconsistent because it works better that way -

such an inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a

{bug}. This kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}.

4. A property or behaviour that is gratuitous or unnecessary,

though perhaps also impressive or cute. For example, one

feature of {Common LISP}'s "format" function is the ability to

print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats (see

{bells, whistles, and gongs}).

5. A property or behaviour that was put in to help someone

else but that happens to be in your way.

6. A bug that has been documented. To call something a

feature sometimes means the author of the program did not

consider the particular case, and that the program responded

in a way that was unexpected but not strictly incorrect. A

standard joke is that a bug can be turned into a {feature}

simply by documenting it (then theoretically no one can

complain about it because it's in the manual), or even by

simply declaring it to be good. "That's not a bug, that's a

feature!" is a common catch-phrase. Apparently there is a

Volkswagen Beetle in San Francisco whose license plate reads

"FEATURE".

See also {feetch feetch}, {creeping featurism}, {wart}, {green

lightning}.

The relationship among bugs, features, misfeatures, warts and

miswarts might be clarified by the following hypothetical

exchange between two hackers on an airliner:

A: "This seat doesn't recline."

B: "That's not a bug, that's a feature. There is an emergency

exit door built around the window behind you, and the route

has to be kept clear."

A: "Oh. Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased

the spacing between rows here."

B: "Yes. But if they'd increased spacing in only one section

it would have been a wart - they would've had to make

nonstandard-length ceiling panels to fit over the displaced

seats."

A: "A miswart, actually. If they increased spacing throughout

they'd lose several rows and a chunk out of the profit margin.

So unequal spacing would actually be the Right Thing."

B: "Indeed."

"Undocumented feature" is a common euphemism for a {bug}.

7. An attribute or function of a {class} in {Eiffel}.

[{Jargon File}]

(1995-10-22)