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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) : [ foldoc ]
bit twiddling
1. (pejorative) An exercise in tuning (see tune) in which
incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little
noticeable improvement, often with the result that the code
becomes incomprehensible.
2. Aimless small modification to a program, especially for
some pointless goal.
3. bit bashing, especially used for the act of frobbing the
device control register of a peripheral in an attempt to get
it back to a known state.
[{Jargon File]
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) : [ jargon ]
bit twiddling n. [very common] 1. (pejorative) An exercise in tuning
(see tune) in which incredible amounts of time and effort go to
produce little noticeable improvement, often with the result that the
code becomes incomprehensible. 2. Aimless small modification to a
program, esp. for some pointless goal. 3. Approx. syn. for bit
bashing; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control register
of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known state.