Related:

• display hack: n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a kaleidoscope
  o 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....
• psychedelicware /si:`k*-del'-ik-weir/ n. [UK] Syn. display hack. See also smoking clover.
• munching squares n. A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca.
  1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T -- see HAKMEM items 146-148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen....
• munching squares: n. A {display hack} dating back to the PDP-1 (ca.
  1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T --- see {HAKMEM} items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen....
• eat hack: n. 1. A clever technique. 2. A brilliant practical joke, where neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, and surprise value.
  Example: the Caltech Rose Bowl card display switch (see "{The Meaning of `Hack'}", appendix A)....
• etrocomputing /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of never-was-state-of-the-a
  esp. if such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for hack value, of more `serious' designs....
• etrocomputing: /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of never-was-state-of-the-a
  esp. if such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for {hack value}, of more `serious' designs....
• eat hack n. [very common] 1. A clever technique.
  2. A brilliant practical joke, where neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, and surprise value....
• hack value n. Often adduced as the reason or motivation for expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being that the accomplished goal is a hack.
  For example, MacLISP had features for reading and printing Roman numerals, which were installed purely for hack value....