hack value

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for hack value - Next: hacked off, Prev: hack up
: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. See display hack for one method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be explained, only experienced. As Louis Armstrong once said when asked to explain jazz: "Man, if you gotta ask youll never know." (Feminists please note Fats Wallers explanation of rhythm: "Lady, if you got to ask, you aint got it.")
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)