Small matter of programming: Difference between revisions

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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 often implies that the person proposing the feature underestimates its cost. Such underestimated costs are common during [[Cost estimation in software engineering|cost estimation]], particularly near the beginning of a project.

==Background==

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>

:A piece of program code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its intellectual complexity.