joe code

joe code /joh' kohd`/ n.  1. Code that is overly
   {tense} and unmaintainable.  "{Perl} may be a handy program,
   but if you look at the source, it's complete joe code."  2. Badly
   written, possibly buggy code.

   Correspondents wishing to remain anonymous have fingered a
   particular Joe at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and observed
   that usage has drifted slightly; the original sobriquet `Joe code'
   was intended in sense 1.

   1994 update: This term has now generalized to `<name> code', used
   used to designate cose that has distinct characteristics traceable
   to its author. "This section doesn't check for a NULL return from
   malloc! Oh! no wonder! It's Ed code!". Used most often with a
   programmer who has left the shop and thus is a convenient scapegoat
   for anything that is wrong with the project.