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.")