The latest perl.com update [1] says among other things:
The code was cleaned up, ported to Class::DBI and the Email::*
hierarchy of modules and various _yaks were shaved_ along the way,
curious, I followed the "yaks were shaved" link to an archived
email message [2] which says:
You see, yak shaving is what you are doing when you're doing some
stupid, fiddly little task that bears no obvious relationship to
what you're supposed to be working on, but yet a chain of twelve
causal relations links what you're doing to the original meta-task.
So that's what it's called! That's all I ever do!
This is why I never finish anything: I start one thing, notice
something related that needs doing, start working on that, find
something else, and so on.
At least now I know what to call it.
[1]
http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2004/02/05/siesta.html
[2]
http://www.ai.mit.edu/lab/gsb/gsb-archive/gsb2000-02-11.html
--
Gerald Oskoboiny <
[email protected]>
http://impressive.net/people/gerald/