Related:

• patch space n. An unused block of bits left in a binary so that it can later be modified by insertion of machine-language instructions there (typically
  he patch space is modified to contain new code, and the superseded code is patched to contain a jump or call to the patch space)....
• patch 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature.
  A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program....
• o-op: /noh'op/ alt. NOP /nop/ [no operation] n. 1.
  (also v.) A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries)....
• diff: /dif/ n. 1. A change listing, especially giving differences between (and additions to) source code or documents (the term is often used in the plural `diffs').
  Send me your diffs for the Jargon File!" Compare {vdiff}....
• ed wire: [IBM] n. Patch wires installed by programmers who have no business mucking with the hardware.
  It is said that the only thing more dangerous than a hardware guy with a code patch is a {softy} with a soldering iron....
• o-op /noh'op/ n.,v. alt. NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1.
  A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries)....
• bum: 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity.
  I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code....
• diff /dif/ n. 1. A change listing, especially giving differences between (and additions to) source code or documents (the term is often used in the plural `diffs').
  Send me your diffs for the Jargon File!" Compare vdiff....
• Don't comment or patch bad code; rewrite it.