evil

As used by a hacker, implies that some system, program,

person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be

not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives

in the cretinous, losing, brain-damaged series, "evil"

does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of

goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the

speaker's. This usage is more an aesthetic and engineering

judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense. "We

thought about adding a Blue Glue interface but decided it

was too evil to deal with." "TECO is neat, but it can be

pretty evil if you're prone to typos." Often pronounced with

the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/.

Compare evil and rude.

[Jargon File]

(1994-12-12)