What Unix hackers think about the demoscene
SunmaN//PFC
Recently I started to read a very interesting text:
THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 4.2.0
It's a dictionary of Unix hackers jargon. As you might know, they are computer nerds, which created Unix, C, Perl, Internet and many other things that have become commonplace. In the early times, from the Sixties to the Eighties, these guys worked mainly in various artificial intelligence laboratories and institutes, and wrote a range of interesting programs, often just for fun rather than money. Some of them have disappeared - possibly working for big companies now - but some many are still working on such projects like Linux, GNU programs, etc.
There are many interesting bits in this jargon file - hackers and programmers jokes, legends and stories, such as the one about walking drives - ancient disk drives, which were big and heavy, and had so powerful electric engines that when a program made the disks rotate, they would shuffle over the floor. When they happened to move behind the entrance door, the technicians had to make a hole in the room's wall to be able to enter.
Also, in this dictionary there are descriptions of various types of computer habitants - lamers, crackers, warez scene, and demoscene too - from a Unix hacker's point of view, of course. I find it very interesting to know what others think about us. So, let's have a look.
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:demoscene: /dem'oh-seen/ [also `demo scene'] A culture of
multimedia hackers located primarily in Scandinavia and northern
Europe. Demoscene folklore recounts that when old-time {warez d00dz}
cracked some piece of software they often added an advertisement of
in the beginning, usually containing colorful {display hack}s with
greetings to other cracking groups. The demoscene was born among
people who decided building these display hacks is more interesting
than hacking and began to build self-contained display hacks of
considerable elaboration and beauty (within the culture such a hack
is called a {demo}). The split seems to have happened at the end of
the 1980s. As more of these {demogroup}s emerged, they started to
have {compo}s at copying parties (see {copyparty}), which later
evolved to standalone events (see {demoparty}). The demoscene has
retained some traits from the {warez d00dz}, including their style of
handles and group names and some of their jargon.
Traditionally demos were written in assembly language, with lots of
smart tricks, self-modifying code, undocumented op-codes and the
like. Some time around 1995, people started coding demos in C, and
a couple of years after that, they also started using Java.
Ten years on (in 1998-1999), the demoscene is changing as its
original platforms (C64, Amiga, Spectrum, Atari ST, IBM PC under
DOS) die out and activity shifts towards Windows, Linux, and the
Internet. While deeply underground in the past, demoscene is trying
to get into the mainstream as an accepted art form, and one symptom of
this is the commercialization of bigger demoparties. Older
demosceners frown at this, but the majority think it's a good
direction. Many demosceners end up working in the computer game
industry. Demoscene resource pages are available at
`http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/' and
`http://www.scene.org/'.
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Overall, this is quite right. But they called us "multimedia hackers" :-E And here we can see the word "display hack". Let's read about it...
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:display hack: n. A program with the same approximate purpose as
a kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures. Famous display hacks
include {munching squares}, {smoking clover}, the BSD Unix `rain(6)'
program, `worms(6)' on miscellaneous Unixes, and the {X} `kaleid(1)'
program. Display hacks can also be implemented by creating text
files containing numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a
video terminal; one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a
Christmas tree with twinkling lights and a toy train circling its
base. The {hack value} of a display hack is proportional to the
aesthetic value of the images times the cleverness of the algorithm
divided by the size of the code. Syn. {psychedelicware}.
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As we can see, a display hack is more like a screensaver than a demo Go ahead...
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:demogroup: n. [{demoscene}] A group of {demo} (sense 4)
composers. Job titles within a group include coders (the ones who
write programs), graphicians (the ones who painstakingly pixelate
the fine art), musicians (the music composers), {sysop}s,
traders/swappers (the ones who do the trading and other PR), and
organizers (in larger groups). It is not uncommon for one person to
do multiple jobs, but it has been observed that good coders are
rarely good composers and vice versa. [How odd. Musical talent
seems common among Internet/Unix hackers --ESR]
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BTW, ESR are the initials of Eric S. Raymond, who is now an editor of the Jargon File.
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:demo: /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration']
4. [{demoscene}] A sequence of {demoeffect}s (usually) combined with
self-composed music and hand-drawn ("pixelated") graphics. These
days (1997) usually built to attend a {compo}. Often called
`eurodemos' outside Europe, as most of the {demoscene} activity
seems to have gathered in northern Europe and especially
Scandinavia. See also {intro}, {dentro}.
:dentro: /den'troh/ [{demoscene}] Combination of {demo} (sense
4) and {intro}. Other name mixings include intmo, dentmo etc. and
are used usually when the authors are not quite sure whether the
program is a {demo} or an {intro}. Special-purpose coinages like
wedtro (some member of a group got married), invtro (invitation
intro) etc. have also been sighted.
:intro: n. [{demoscene}] Introductory {screen} of some
production. 2. A short {demo}, usually showing just one or two
{screen}s. 3. Small, usually 64k, 40k or 4k {demo}. Sizes are
generally dictated by {compo} rules. See also {dentro}, {demo}.
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Not so bad - it could be much worse ;)
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:demoparty: n. [{demoscene}] Aboveground descendant of the
{copyparty}, with emphasis shifted away from software piracy and
towards {compo}s. Smaller demoparties, for 100 persons or less, are
held quite often, sometimes even once a month, and usually last for
one to two days. On the other end of the scale, huge demo parties
are held once a year (and four of these have grown very large and
occur annually - Assembly in Finland, The Party in Denmark, The
Gathering in Norway, and NAID somewhere in North America). These
parties usually last for three to five days, have room for 3000-5000
people, and have a party network with connection to the internet.
:copyparty: n. [C64/amiga {demoscene} ]A computer party
organized so demosceners can meet other in real life, and to
facilitate software copying (mostly pirated software). The
copyparty has become less common as the Internet makes communication
easier. The demoscene has gradually evolved the {demoparty} to
replace it.
:compo: n. [{demoscene}] Finnish-originated slang for
`competition'. Demo compos are held at a {demoparty}. The usual
protocol is that several groups make demos for a compo, they are
shown on a big screen, and then the party participants vote for the
best one. Prizes (from sponsors and party entrance fees) are given.
Standard compo formats include {intro} compos (4k or 64k demos),
music compos, graphics compos, quick {demo} compos (build a demo
within 4 hours for example), etc.
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And, as for me, the funniest description...
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:ASCII art: n. The fine art of drawing diagrams using the ASCII
character set (mainly `|', `-', `/', `\', and `+'). Also known as
`character graphics' or `ASCII graphics'; see also {boxology}. Here
is a serious example:
A power supply consisting of a full wave rectifier circuit
feeding a capacitor input filter circuit.
And here are some very silly examples:
There is an important subgenre of ASCII art that puns on the
standard character names in the fashion of a rebus.
Within humorous ASCII art, there is for some reason an entire
flourishing subgenre of pictures of silly cows. Four of these are
reproduced in the silly examples above, here are three more:
Finally, here's a magnificent example of ASCII art depicting an
Edwardian train station in Dunedin, New Zealand:
There is a newsgroup, alt.ascii-art, devoted to this genre; however,
see also {warlording}.
o----)||(--+--|<----+ +---------o + D O
L )||( | | | C U
A I )||( +-->|-+ | +-\/\/-+--o - T
C N )||( | | | | P
E )||( +-->|-+--)---+--|(--+-o U
)||( | | | GND T
o----)||(--+--|<----+----------+
|\/\/\/| ____/| ___ |\_/| ___
| | \ o.O| ACK! / \_ |` '| _/ \
| | =(_)= THPHTH! / \/ \/ \
| (o)(o) U / \
C _) (__) \/\/\/\ _____ /\/\/\/
| ,___| (oo) \/ \/
| / \/-------\ U (__)
/____\ || | \ /---V `v'- oo )
/ \ ||---W|| * * |--| || |`. |_/\
//-o-\\
____---=======---____
====___\ /.. ..\ /___==== Klingons rule OK!
// ---\__O__/--- \\
\_\ /_/
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| ^^^^^^^ B ^^^^^^^^^ |
| ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
" A Bee in the Carrot Patch "
(__) (__) (__)
(\/) ($$) (**)
/-------\/ /-------\/ /-------\/
/ | 666 || / |=====|| / | ||
* ||----|| * ||----|| * ||----||
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Satanic cow This cow is a Yuppie Cow in love
.-.
/___\
|___|
|]_[|
/ I \
JL/ | \JL
.-. i () | () i ..-.
|_| .^. /_\ LJ=======LJ /_\ .^. |_|
._/___\._./___\_._._._._.L_J_/.-. ..-.\_L_J._._._._._/___\._./___\._._._
., |-,-| ., L_J |_| [I] |_| L_J ., |-,-| ., .,
JL |-O-| JL L_J%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%L_J JL |-O-| JL JL
IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII|_|=======H=======|_|IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII_HH_
-------[]-------[]-------[_]----\.=I=./----[_]-------[]-------[]--------[]-
_/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ [_] []_/_L_J_\_[] [_] _/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ ||\
|__| ||=/_|_\=|| |__|_|_| _L_L_J_J_ |_|_|__| ||=/_|_\=|| |__| ||-
|__| |||__|__||| |__[___]__--__===__--__[___]__| |||__|__||| |__| |||
IIIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIL___J__II__|_|__II__L___JIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIIII[_]
\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_[_]\II/[]\_\I/_/[]\II/[_]\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_/ [_]
./ \.L_J/ \L_J./ L_JI I[]/ \[]I IL_J \.L_J/ \L_J./ \.L_J
| |L_J| |L_J| L_J| |[]| |[]| |L_J |L_J| |L_J| |L_J
|_____JL_JL___JL_JL____|-|| |[]| |[]| ||-|_____JL_JL___JL_JL_____JL_J
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"A magnificent example of ASCII art" - hahaha, very funny. This is horrible, if compared to the works a dedicated ASCII-group such as Galza. When I showed this "ASCII art" to a real ASCII-artist (formerly known as Evil Lex/Galza) - he frowned and was very angry.
Well, we see that Unix hackers know about demoscene, and respect it, in contrast to, say, crackers and the warez scene. Some of their ideas about us are right, others are wrong, ridiculous and funny.
BTW, I mailed an editor of this dictionary and asked him to fix and enlarge description of ASCII art, but he didn't answer.
You can check the HTML version of The Jargon File at: http://www.tuxedo.org/jargon The text version is somewhere at: www.tuxedo.org
SunmaN//PFC