When some piece of code is written in a particularly
obscure fashion, and no good reason (such as time or
space optimization) can be discovered, it is often said that the programmer
was attempting to increase his job security (i.e., by making himself
indispensable for maintenance). This sour joke seldom has to be said in
full; if two hackers are looking over some code together and one points at
a section and says job security
, the other one may just
nod.