broket /broh'k*t/ or /broh'ket`/ n.
[rare; by analogy with `bracket': a `broken bracket'] Either
of the characters < and >, when
used as paired enclosing delimiters. This word originated as a
contraction of the phrase `broken bracket', that is, a bracket
that is bent in the middle. (At MIT, and apparently in the Real World as well, these are
usually called angle
brackets.)
Node:Brooks's Law, Next:brown-paper-bag bug,
Previous:broket, Up:= B =
Brooks's Law prov.
"Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" --
a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting
development work among N programmers is O(N) (that is,
proportional to N), but the complexity and communications cost
associated with coordinating and then merging their work is
O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N). The quote is
from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of
"The Mythical Man-Month" (Addison-Wesley, 1975, ISBN
0-201-00650-2), an excellent early book on software engineering.
The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as
"Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively
that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice (though
it's not the whole story; see bazaar); too often, management still does. See also creationism, second-system effect, optimism.
Node:brown-paper-bag bug,
Next:browser, Previous:Brooks's Law, Up:= B =
brown-paper-bag bug n.
A bug in a public software release that is so embarrassing
that the author notionally wears a brown paper bag over his head
for a while so he won't be recognized on the net. Entered popular
usage after the early-1999 release of the first Linux 2.2, which
had one. The phrase was used in Linus Torvalds's apology
posting.