Smoke and mirrors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smoke and mirrors is a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial explanation or description. The source of the name is based on magicians' illusions, where magicians use smoke and mirrors to accomplish illusions such as making objects disappear, when they really don't disappear at all. The expression may have a connotation of virtuosity or cleverness in carrying out such a deception.
In the field of computer programming, it is used to describe a program or functionality that doesn't exist yet, but appears as though it does. This is often done to demonstrate what a resulting project will function/look like after the code is complete. Smoke and mirrors is not recommended when displaying any program, as it can lead to expectations for a feature that turns out to be impossible or extremely difficult to implement.
More generally, "smoke and mirrors" may refer to any sort of presentation by which the audience is intended to be deceived, such as an attempt to fool a prospective client into thinking that one has capabilities necessary to deliver a product in question.
Columnist Jimmy Breslin is credited with popularizing the phrase.
