The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

voodoo programming
 n.

    [from George Bush Sr.'s ?voodoo economics?]

    1. The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature,
    or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that
    the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why.
    Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically
    isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic, deep magic,
    heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead
    chicken, SCSI voodoo.

    2. Things programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway,
    and which sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

voodoo programming

    (From George Bush's "voodoo economics") The use by
   guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or
   algorithm that one does not truly understand.  The implication
   is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one
   will never know why.  Almost synonymous with black magic,
   except that black magic typically isn't documented and
   *nobody* understands it.

   Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance,
   cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken.

   [Jargon File]

   (1995-03-10)