tense

Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code

often got that way because it was highly bummed, but

sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a

clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at

CMU: "This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your

eyes." A tense programmer is one who produces tense code.

[Jargon File]