from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
YAFIYGI
/yaf'[email protected]/, adj.
[coined in response to WYSIWYG] Describes the command-oriented
ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of word processing or other user interface, the
opposite of {WYSIWYG}. Stands for "You asked for it, you got it",
because what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long
after it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote
perversity ("Real Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and like it!") or,
less often, a necessary tradeoff ("Only a YAFIYGI tool can have full
programmable flexibility in its interface.").
This precise sense of "You asked for it, you got it" seems to have
first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody Real Programmers don't use
Pascal (see {Real Programmer}s); the acronym is a more recent
invention.