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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>critical mass</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../C.html" title="C"/><link rel="previous" href="crippleware.html" title="crippleware"/><link rel="next" href="crlf.html" title="crlf"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">critical mass</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="crippleware.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">C</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="crlf.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="critical-mass"/><dt xmlns="" id="critical-mass"><b>critical mass</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material required to
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sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product, describes a condition of
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the software such that fixing one bug introduces one plus
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<a href="../E/epsilon.html"><i class="glossterm">epsilon</i></a> bugs. (This malady has many causes:
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<a href="creeping-featurism.html"><i class="glossterm">creeping featurism</i></a>, ports to too many disparate
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environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software achieves critical
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mass, it can never be fixed; it can only be discarded and rewritten.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="crippleware.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../C.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="crlf.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">crippleware </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> crlf</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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