Code Sacrifice

Noun · Slang & Abbreviations

Definitions

  1. The deliberate loss of a feature, abstraction, or body of work to preserve something more important such as reliability, schedule, or simplicity. In engineering slang, code sacrifice acknowledges that good decisions often still hurt.

    In plain English: Giving up some code or functionality to protect a more important outcome.

    Example: "Dropping the smart auto-retry layer was a code sacrifice, but it bought the team a simpler failure model and a safer release."

Related Terms