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}.

:Dissociated Press: /n./ [play on `Associated Press'; perhaps
inspired by a reference in the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon
"What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text
into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by
passing it through a {marketroid}. The algorithm starts by
printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text.
Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the
original text of the last N words (or letters) already
printed and then prints the next word or letter. {EMACS} has a
handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based
Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of this Jargon
File:

wart: /n./ A small, crocky {feature} that sticks out of an array
(C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy
to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying
attention to the medium in question.