![](http://www.gnu-darwin.org/hexley-gd-sm.png)
|
display hack n.
A program with the same approximate
purpose as a kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures. Famous display
hacks include munching squares, smoking clover, the BSD
Unix rain(6) program, worms(6) on miscellaneous
Unixes, and the X kaleid(1) program. Display hacks can
also be implemented by creating text files containing numerous
escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal; one
notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with
twinkling lights and a toy train circling its base. The hack value of a display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of
the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the
size of the code. Syn. psychedelicware.
|