elevator controller n.
An archetypal dumb embedded-systems
application, like toaster (which superseded it). During one
period (1983-84) in the deliberations of ANSI X3J11 (the C
standardization committee) this was the canonical example of a
really stupid, memory-limited computation environment. "You can't
require printf(3)
to be part of the default runtime library
-- what if you're targeting an elevator controller?" Elevator
controllers became important rhetorical weapons on both sides of
several holy wars.