deep magic

( n.)

   [poss. from C. S. Lewis's Narnia books] An awesomely arcane technique
   central  to a program or system, esp. one neither generally published
   nor  available  to  hackers  at large (compare {black art}); one that
   could   only   have  been  composed  by  a  true  {wizard}.  Compiler
   optimization  techniques  and  many aspects of {OS} design used to be
   {deep  magic};  many  techniques  in cryptography, signal processing,
   graphics,  and AI still are. Compare {heavy wizardry}. Esp.: found in
   comments  of  the  form  "Deep magic begins here...". Compare {voodoo
   programming}.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {black art}{black magic}{deep magic}{heavy wizardry}{magic}{SCSI voodoo}{voodoo programming}{wizard}]