Juggling eggs
Keeping a lot of
state in your head while modifying a program.
"Don't bother me now, I'm juggling eggs", means that an interrupt is likely to result in the program's being scrambled.
In the classic first-contact SF novel "The Mote in God's Eye", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, an alien describes a very difficult task by saying "We juggle priceless eggs in variable gravity."
See also
hack mode.
[
Jargon File]
