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One of my characters is a young graduate student who leaves her adviser. He takes her research code and he gets his other students to use it, not forgetting to say all sorts of mean things about her and the code.

I need a derogatory expression for code that is written by a young and inexperienced developer who contains many typical mistakes: do loops that do nothing, non-descriptive names for variables, monolithic blocks, repeated blocks of code where a function will do, inconsistent naming convention, etc.

I have heard terms like "spaghetti code", "hydra code", "jenga code", but they don't necessary imply ineptitude on the part of the developer. Also I've heard the term "Jimmy" describing the clueless developer. "Jimmy code" would be a choice then, but I'm not a programmer, so I don't know what is used.

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  • So this so called advisor takes this garbage code and makes all the other students use it? Why would he do that?
    – Jim
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 18:45
  • @Jim The code is actually working, but he claims it's garbage. That's how he rolls.
    – user3653831
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 18:47
  • My fellow developers call this type of code "hacky code".
    – RobJarvis
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 19:07
  • @RobJarvis "Sloppy, hacky code" sounds good.
    – user3653831
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 19:08
  • "Ordinary Python code" maybe?
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 20:02

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I think "spaghetti code" implies ineptitude, but it might also implies several developers and something that grew out of control over time. "Legacy code" is another excuse I hear for crap code. When a developer is speaking of their own garbage code they call it "quick and dirty" implying they just didn't have time to do a good job. "Hack" is often misunderstood to mean "crack" security, but it really means inelegant, inefficient code that works.

FWIW, some people don't like compact, elegant code if it ends up hard to read and understand. slightly longer, but readable code is sometimes preferred.

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    Legacy code is what half of professional programmers get to work with. It can be good or bad, like any other code. But there is a special place in hell reserved for those who don’t comment it.
    – David
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 19:22
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    To me, Spaghetti code has always meant code that uses lots of gotos so that the thread of execution jumps and loops around much like a strand of spaghetti in a pile.
    – Jim
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 19:49
  • Yes, "spaghetti code" implies a particular type of fault, lack of structure.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 20:02

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