Timeline for Word or idiom defining something barely functional
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 2019 at 20:05 | comment | added | Hellion | Here's an example of brittle being used in a software-development context: electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/… about 6 paragraphs in: (the coding tricks) "also tend to be very brittle; minor changes can mess up the algorithm, which often creates bugs." | |
| Aug 13, 2019 at 21:42 | comment | added | Pablo Straub | If the audience is not familiar with the term 'brittle' as used in software, you may introduce the term and do them a service. This is the term I have been using in my lectures on software quality for years (and I did not make this up). Since I teach mostly in Spanish I use the word "frágil" --cognate of 'fragile'-- because that's the best translation of brittle I came up with. | |
| Aug 9, 2019 at 17:47 | comment | added | Forbin | In 33 years of software development, "brittle" is exactly the term I've most often encountered in the context of "something that works in only very limited circumstances and will fail/break (or return ludicrous results) in virtually every other case." Yes, this is an appeal to anecdotal evidence, which is why it's only a comment! | |
| Aug 9, 2019 at 14:19 | comment | added | Chris Melville | @user888379 - Thanks, that's interesting. I had never heard of the term used specifically in software circles (now an external search confirms it, you're right!). Although with this in mind, it might be worth considering the audience (whether they're likely to be familiar with the usage). | |
| Aug 9, 2019 at 12:41 | comment | added | user888379 | @ChrisMelville In my experience, brittle is frequently used to describe software. I think Hellion has nicely covered the different connotations of "brittle" and "fragile". | |
| Aug 9, 2019 at 12:40 | comment | added | TonyK | I think "brittle" is perfect here. For me it suggests, for example, that it the user makes a mistake with their input (e.g. typing "EXTI" instead of "EXIT"), then the program crashes instead of displaying a friendly error message. | |
| Aug 9, 2019 at 11:32 | comment | added | Chris Melville | "Fragile" is a much better fit in this context. "Brittle" has the connotation of a physical material, which can be easily broken if minimal force is applied. Fragile can be used less physically, including in the context of the question. | |
| Aug 8, 2019 at 20:30 | comment | added | Matias Barrios | This is exactly what I needed!! | |
| Aug 8, 2019 at 20:30 | vote | accept | Matias Barrios | ||
| Aug 9, 2019 at 13:29 | |||||
| Aug 8, 2019 at 20:18 | history | answered | Hellion | CC BY-SA 4.0 |