Re: Term for elegant, efficient, tight code?

[dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com]

I'm sorry if someone's already mentioned this, but "elegant, efficient, and tight" have little to do with whether the code compiles--that's a given.

"Elegant" describes code that achieves the desired goal in a typically new or unique way--something that makes other programmers smile and say, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that!"

"Efficient" describes code that achieves the desired goal without wasting CPU processing power or time.

"Tight" describes code that achieves the desired goal with the fewest instructions possible.  It is occasionally used as a synonym for the combination of elegance and efficiency.

None of these terms imply syntactical correctness, conformance to some standard, or validity in any other sense...beyond the fact that, if it won't even compile, its elegance, efficiency, and tightness don't carry much significance.

--David 
 
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