schroedinbug
jargonprogramming
A bug that only manifests after someone reads the code and realizes it should never have worked.
The joke, riffing on Schrodinger's cat, is that the program ran fine until an engineer noticed it logically could not, at which point it promptly broke. It captures the eerie feeling that some code was only working because nobody was looking too hard.
Also known as: schroedinbug, schrodinbug
Sources
- The Jargon File - schroedinbug