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. The next step beyond static tableaux in
ASCII art is ASCII animation. There are not many large examples of this;
perhaps the best known is the ASCII animation of the original Star Wars
movie at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/. There is a newsgroup, alt.ascii-art
, devoted to this genre; however, see also warlording.
