sorcery, black magic, black art, necromancy(noun)

the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world

black art(Noun)

A practice such as witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, or black magic.

black art(Noun)

A process that is mysterious or difficult to master.

Black art(u)

the art practiced by conjurers and witches; necromancy; conjuration; magic

Black Art

name given to the presumed power of evoking evil spirits.

black art

[common] A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular application or systems area (compare black magic). VLSI design and compiler code optimization were (in their beginnings) considered classic examples of black art; as theory developed they became deep magic, and once standard textbooks had been written, became merely heavy wizardry. The huge proliferation of formal and informal channels for spreading around new computer-related technologies during the last twenty years has made both the term black art and what it describes less common than formerly. See also voodoo programming.