spike

jargon To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a

(sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result.

The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers

refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay

in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to

spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In

programming environments it normally refers to a temporary

change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a

permanent change, which would be called hard-coded).

(1999-10-18)