Loosely used to mean `in accordance with all the relevant rules',
esp. in connection with some set of constraints defined by software.
"The older =+ alternate for += is no longer legal syntax in ANSI C."
"This parser processes each line of legal input the moment it sees
the trailing linefeed." Hackers often model their work as a sort of
game played with the environment in which the objective is to
maneuver through the thicket of `natural laws' to achieve a desired
objective. Their use of legal is flavored as much by this
game-playing sense as by the more conventional one having to do with
courts and lawyers. Compare {language lawyer}, {legalese}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {language lawyer}]