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.

