hack 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. 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
you'll never know." (Feminists please note Fats Waller's explanation of
rhythm: "Lady, if you got to ask, you ain't got it.")
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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