One-off code refers to computer programs that are typically written for some specific purpose that the programmer expects to only need once. For example, a person might have a need to categorize a set of text files according to some criteria.

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  • One-off code refers to computer programs that are typically written for some specific purpose that the programmer expects to only need once. For example, a person might have a need to categorize a set of text files according to some criteria. If there are hundreds of files and he knows a suitable programming language (here Perl comes to mind), he might write a program to automate the process, especially if he expects the effort spent on writing a computer program to do the task is less than categorizing the files manually. Further, if he expects he will never have to do it again (in the foreseeable future), he will approach the task differently than if he'd expect to regularly do such categorizing. In this case, he will write the program in a more "sloppy" way, without in-code comments, and in the quick and dirty fashion. On the other hand, if he expects to have to do such tasks on a regular basis, he probably would spend more time on making the program parameterizeable, general, usable as a component or subroutine, and he definitely would write it in a "presentable" way (meaning he would not be ashamed if the code were published with his name as the author). Historically, interpreted languages were geared towards such one-off coding, while compiled languages existed for programs of lasting value. Today, that difference has vanished for two reasons: many interpreted languages are used in large projects (Perl, Python, etc. ), and, on the other hand, some compiled languages contain facilities specifically aimed at one-off programming. For example, D is a compiled programming language, but since the compilation is very fast (comparable to the first phase of running a Perl program), and the compiler provides a "compile and run at once" switch, many users use D for tasks where one would typically use Perl, Shell, or Python.
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  • One-off code refers to computer programs that are typically written for some specific purpose that the programmer expects to only need once. For example, a person might have a need to categorize a set of text files according to some criteria.
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  • One-off code
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