YABA
= Y =
YAUN
YAFIYGI /yaf'ee-y*-gee/ adj.
[coined in response to
WYSIWYG] Describes the command-oriented ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of
word processing or other user interface, the opposite of
WYSIWYG. Stands for "You asked for it, you got it", because
what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long after
it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote perversity
("Real Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and like it!")
or, less often, a necessary tradeoff ("Only a YAFIYGI tool can
have full programmable flexibility in its interface.").
This precise sense of "You asked for it, you got it" seems to
have first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody "Real
Programmers don't use Pascal" (see Real Programmers); the
acronym is a more recent invention.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.