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{{short description|Ironic phrase in software development}}
In [[software development]], '''small matter of programming''' ('''SMOP''') or '''simple matter of programming''' is a phrase used to ironically indicate that a suggested feature or design change would in fact require a great deal of effort
It points out that although the change is clearly possible, it would be very laborious to actually perform. It often implies that the person proposing the feature underestimates its cost.
==Definitions==
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The 1983 [[Jargon File]] describes an SMOP as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jargon-file.org/archive/jargon-1.5.0.dos.txt |title=The Hacker's Dictionary [Jargon File, version 1.5.0] |access-date=2019-03-17}}</ref>
{{quote|'''SMOP''' (ess'em'oh'pee') noun.
:''A piece of program code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its intellectual complexity''. ▼
:This term is used to refer to a program that could obviously be written but is not worth the trouble. It is also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it. The irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a great deal of work. ▼
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:Example: "It's easy to change a FORTRAN compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a small matter of programming."▼
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The IBM Jargon Dictionary defines SMOP as:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://comlay.net/ibmjarg.pdf|quote=SMOP|title=''IBM Jargon Dictionary, Tenth Edition''|publisher=[[IBM]]||year=1990|page=53|accessdate=22 March 2019}}</ref>
==Usage==
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The term was also explored and expanded upon by computer scientist [[Bonnie Nardi]] in her 1993 book ''A Small Matter of Programming: Perspectives on End User Computing''.<ref>{{cite book
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==See also==
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==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Anti-patterns]]
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