legal adj.
Loosely used to mean `in accordance with all the relevant
rules', esp. in connection with some set of constraints defined
by software. "The older =+ alternate for += is no longer legal
syntax in ANSI C." "This parser processes each line of legal
input the moment it sees the trailing linefeed." Hackers often
model their work as a sort of game played with the environment in
which the objective is to maneuver through the thicket of
`natural laws' to achieve a desired objective. Their use of
`legal' is flavored as much by this game-playing sense as by the
more conventional one having to do with courts and lawyers.
Compare language lawyer,
legalese.
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legalese n.
Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description, product
specification, or interface standard; text that seems designed to
obfuscate and requires a language
lawyer to parse it. Though
hackers are not afraid of high information density and complexity
in language (indeed, they rather enjoy both), they share a deep
and abiding loathing for legalese; they associate it with
deception, suits, and situations in
which hackers generally get the short end of the stick.
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