Timeline for Phrase for a situation where a problem disappears when you are about to fix it, but reappears later
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2015 at 20:04 | comment | added | Michael Lorton | It is nice that we live in a time when it is at least plausible to presuppose the person you are talking to possesses a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics. | |
| Aug 6, 2015 at 16:22 | comment | added | dsollen | I would point out that the first time I heard the term I guessed what it meant simply from context and knowing heisenberg. I think most educated folks will comprehend your meaning quite easily even if they were not previously familiar with the term. Though this presupposes basic knowledge with quantum mechanics. To me, being a geek in an intelligent field, that is usually a safe assumption with many of my peers; not sure if that is true everywhere. | |
| Aug 5, 2015 at 0:29 | comment | added | Vynce | I've also recently heard Buggs Hozon for the related concept of a bug that is very hard to reproduce, probably because the exact nature hasn't been determined. | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 20:40 | comment | added | dennisdeems | Notwithstanding all the upvotes, I don't see how this answer will help the OP. | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 20:09 | comment | added | neminem | Agree both with the fact that it's an awesome name for the phenomenon, and also that it's widely known among software developers but not generally by people in other fields unless they hang out with software developers. (That said, a heisenbug strictly speaking is one that disappears when you try to study it - in your example, the mechanic would be able to reproduce the problem, it would just disappear once he opened the hood to look for it.) | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 20:06 | history | edited | Michael Lorton | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 character in body
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| Aug 4, 2015 at 17:04 | comment | added | Cort Ammon | Another phrase I use for heisenbugs is "really annoying..." | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 8:24 | comment | added | waldrumpus | Came to say "heisenbug." | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 7:53 | comment | added | Michael Lorton | The word certainly isn't but the name Heisenberg has been widely known in the last few years for some reason. I am trying to enough use of the word, which I think is useful and evocative. | |
| Aug 4, 2015 at 3:08 | comment | added | Kim | I like "Heisenbug" but I don't think it's very common outside the developer community. I doubt many doctors or mechanics would understand what it meant. | |
| Aug 3, 2015 at 22:52 | history | answered | Michael Lorton | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
