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1.                 From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):
                   
   
   
                   
                     
   tense
      Of programs, very clever and efficient.  A tense piece of code
      often got that way because it was highly bummed, but
      sometimes it was just based on a great idea.  A comment in a
      clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at
      CMU: "This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your
      eyes."  A tense programmer is one who produces tense code.
      [Jargon File]