Lasherism jargon, algorithm
(Harvard) A program that solves a standard problem (such as the Eight Queens Puzzle or implementing the life algorithm) in a deliberately nonstandard way. Distinguished from a crock or kluge by the fact that the programmer did it on purpose as a mental exercise. Such constructions are quite popular in exercises such as the Obfuscated C contest, and occasionally in retrocomputing. Lew Lasher was a student at Harvard around 1980 who became notorious for such behaviour.
[The Jargon File]
(1994-12-07)