Of programs, verY clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that waY because it was highlYbummed, 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]