hardcoded adj. 1. common said of data inserted directly into a
   program, where it cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some
   profile, resource see de-rezz sense 2, or environment variable
   that a user or hacker can easily modify. 2. in c, this is esp. applied
   to use of a literal instead of a `define' macro see magic number.


see also:
profile de-rezz user magic number 

hard-coded
     
         by analogy with "hard-wired" said of a data value
        or behaviour written directly into a program, possibly in
        multiple places, where it cannot be easily modified.  there
        are several alternatives, depending on how often the value is
        likely to change.  it may be replaced with a compile-time
        constant, such as a c "define" macro, in which case a
        change will still require recompilation; or it may be read at
        run time from a profile, resource see de-rezz, or
        environment variable that a user can easily modify; or it
        may be read as part of the program's input data.
     
        to change something hard-coded requires recompilation if
        using a compiled language of course but, more seriously, it
        requires sufficient understanding of the implementation to be
        sure that the change will not introduce inconsistency and
        cause the program to fail.
     
        for example, "the line terminator is hard-coded as newline;
        who in their right mind would use anything else?"
     
        see magic number.
     
        jargon file
     
        1999-10-18
     
     
see also:
hard-wired compile-time c macro run time profile 
de-rezz environment variable user magic number jargon file