1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or
system; one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather
than the right way (in really good designs these coincide, but most
designs aren't `really good' in the appropriate sense). This trait is
completely unrelated to general maturity or competence, or even
competence at any other specific program. It is a sad commentary on
the primitive state of computing that the natural opposite of this
term is often claimed to be experienced user but is really more like
cynical user.
2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take advantage of some superior
but advanced technique, e.g., the {bubble sort}. It may imply naivete
on the part of the programmer, although there are situations where a
naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more important to keep
the code comprehensible than to go for maximum performance. "I know
the linear search is naive, but in this case the list typically only
has half a dozen items." Compare {brute force}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {bubble sort}{padded cell}]