Code Earthquake

Noun · Slang & Abbreviations

Definitions

  1. A large disruptive change that shakes many parts of a codebase at once. In engineering slang, a code earthquake may be necessary, but everyone worries about what hidden cracks it will reveal afterward.

    In plain English: A major code change with widespread disruptive effects.

    Example: "Switching the identity model caused a code earthquake across permissions, audit logs, billing, and every service that had quietly embedded user assumptions."

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