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display hack
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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 without programming 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.
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