Definition

yak shaving

Part of the Internet acronyms and lingo glossary:

Yak shaving is programming lingo for the seemingly endless series of small tasks that have to be completed before the next step in a project can move forward. Gilden Yak Shaving Day, a parody of Christmas, is a fictional holiday celebrated by cartoon characters Ren & Stimpy on the Nickelodeon channel. The term as it applies to programming was coined by Dr. Carlin Vieri.

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Roedy Green provides an example of yak shaving.

This was last updated in July 2009

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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Internet acronyms and lingo
- Terms related to Internet acronyms and lingo, including slang definitions and jargon about texting, Twitter and other social networking sites.
Programming
- Terms related to software programming, including definitions about programming languages and words and phrases about software design, coding, testing and debugging.
Internet applications
- This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

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