资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

DWIM
     
        /dwim/ [acronym, "Do What I Mean" (not what I say)] 1. Able to
        guess, sometimes even correctly, the result intended when
        bogus input was provided.
     
        2. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish
        this feat by correcting many of the more common errors.  See
        {hairy}.
     
        3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a balky computer,
        especially when one senses one might be tripping over
        legalisms (see {legalese}).
     
        Warren Teitelman originally wrote DWIM to fix his typos and
        spelling errors, so it was somewhat idiosyncratic to his
        style, and would often make hash of anyone else's typos if
        they were stylistically different.  Some victims of DWIM thus
        claimed that the acronym stood for "Damn Warren's Infernal
        Machine!'.
     
        In one notorious incident, Warren added a DWIM feature to the
        command interpreter used at {Xerox PARC}.  One day another
        hacker there typed "delete *$" to free up some disk space.
        (The editor there named backup files by appending "$" to the
        original file name, so he was trying to delete any backup
        files left over from old editing sessions.)  It happened that
        there weren't any editor backup files, so DWIM helpfully
        reported "*$ not found, assuming you meant 'delete *'".  It
        then started to delete all the files on the disk!  The hacker
        managed to stop it with a {Vulcan nerve pinch} after only a
        half dozen or so files were lost.
     
        The disgruntled victim later said he had been sorely tempted
        to go to Warren's office, tie Warren down in his chair in
        front of his workstation, and then type "delete *$" twice.
     
        DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a
        complex program; it is also occasionally described as the
        single instruction the ideal computer would have.  Back when
        proofs of program correctness were in vogue, there were also
        jokes about "DWIMC" (Do What I Mean, Correctly).  A related
        term, more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right Thing);
        see {Right Thing}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]