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

desk check

    To grovel over hardcopy of source code,
   mentally simulating the control flow; a method of catching
   bugs.  No longer common practice in this age of on-screen
   editing, fast compiles, and sophisticated debuggers - though
   some maintain stoutly that it ought to be.

   Compare dry run, eyeball search, vdiff, vgrep.

   [Jargon File]

   (1996-05-13)