dike: vt. To remove or disable a portion of something, as a
wire from a computer or a subroutine from a program. A standard
slogan is "When in doubt, dike it out". (The implication is that it
is usually more effective to attack software problems by reducing
complexity than by increasing it.) The word `dikes' is widely used
among mechanics and engineers to mean `diagonal cutters', esp. the
heavy-duty metal-cutting version, but may also refer to a kind of
wire-cutters used by electronics techs. To `dike something out'
means to use such cutters to remove something. Indeed, the TMRC
Dictionary defined dike as "to attack with dikes". Among hackers
this term has been metaphorically extended to informational objects
such as sections of code.
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