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 Dilbert's 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 Dilbert's
huge popularity among hackers. All too many find the perverse
incentives and Kafkaesque atmosphere of Dilbert's mythical
workplace reflective of their own experiences.