[common]
1. Describes a systematic tendency to load more {chrome} and
{feature}s onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may
have possessed when originally designed. See also {feeping
creaturism}. "You know, the main problem with {BSD} Unix has always
been creeping featurism."
2. More generally, the tendency for anything complicated to become
even more complicated because people keep saying "Gee, it would be
even better if it had this feature too". (See {feature}.) The result
is usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time,
rather than being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy
to add just one extra little feature to help someone ... and then
another ... and another.... When creeping featurism gets out of hand,
it's like a cancer. The GNU hello program, intended to illustrate
{GNU} command-line switch and coding conventions, is also a wonderful
parody of creeping featurism; the distribution changelog is
particularly funny. Usually this term is used to describe computer
programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the
IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts
conscious redesigns; see {second-system effect}. See also {creeping
elegance}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {creeping elegance}{creeping featuritis}{critical mass}{feature}{feature creature}{feature creep}{feeping creaturism}{KISS Principle}{second-system effect}]