rat dance
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 | This is the JargonFile (V4.00) entry for rat dance - Next: rave, Prev: rat belt |
| :rat dance: /n./ [From the Dilbert comic strip of November 14, 1995] A hacking run that produces results which, while superficially coherent, have little or nothing to do with its original objectives. There are strong connotations that the coding process and the objectives themselves were pretty random. (In the original comic strip, the Ratbert is invited to dance on Dilberts keyboard in order to produce bugs for him to fix, and authors a Web browser instead.) Compare Infinite-Monkey Theorem. This term seems to have become widely recognized quite rapidly after the original strip, a fact which testifies to Dilberts huge popularity among hackers. All too many find the perverse incentives and Kafkaesque atmosphere of Dilberts mythical workplace reflective of their own experiences. | |
| * (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) | |
