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ad-hockery
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ad-hockery /ad-hok'*r-ee/ /n./ [Purdue] 1. Gratuitous
assumptions made inside certain programs, esp. expert systems,
which lead to the appearance of semi-intelligent behavior but are
in fact entirely arbitrary. For example, fuzzy-matching of
input tokens that might be typing errors against a symbol table can
make it look as though a program knows how to spell.
2. Special-case code to cope with some awkward input that would
otherwise cause a program to choke, presuming normal inputs
are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular way. Also called
`ad-hackery', `ad-hocity' (/ad-hos'*-tee/), `ad-crockery'.
See also ELIZA effect.
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