hand-hacking

hand-hacking n.  1. The practice of translating {hot
   spot}s from an {HLL} into hand-tuned assembler, as opposed to
   trying to coerce the compiler into generating better code.  Both
   the term and the practice are becoming uncommon.  See {tune},
   {bum}, {by hand}; syn. with v. {cruft}.  2. More
   generally, manual construction or patching of data sets that would
   normally be generated by a translation utility and interpreted by
   another program, and aren't really designed to be read or modified
   by humans.