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.
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