bells and whistles

n. [common] Features added to a program or system to make it more flavorful
from a hacker's point of view, without necessarily adding to its utility for
its primary function. Distinguished from chrome , which is intended to
attract users. Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go back
and add some bells and whistles. No one seems to know what distinguishes a
bell from a whistle. The recognized emphatic form is bells, whistles, and
gongs. It used to be thought that this term derived from the toyboxes on
theater organs. However, the and gongs strongly suggests a different origin,
at sea. Before powered horns, ships routinely used bells, whistles, and
gongs to signal each other over longer distances than voice can carry.
Sometimes trouble is spelled bells and whistles. .. (The next cartoon in the
Crunchly saga is 73-06-04. The previous one is 73-05-28.