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.")
Nearby terms:
hack on « hack together « hack up « hack value » ha ha only serious » hair » hairy
