TechnologySeptember 4, 2026
hardcoded
HARD-koh-ded
Definition
To embed data or logic directly into the source code of a program, making it rigid and difficult to modify without changing the code itself.
Etymology
Derived from the computing term hard, meaning physically built into the equipment, combined with code. It emerged in the mid-20th century to describe programming logic that is permanently wired into a system rather than being dynamic.
In the news
In the article, hardcoded refers to the traditional, inefficient method where engineers manually wrote and embedded test logic into scripts, which had to be rewritten whenever the software interface changed.
Software that can check its own quality
Read the full article ↗Fast Company