Easter Eggs
November 29th, 2008 by ComputerBob
Yes, I know that it’s nowhere near the Easter season, but that’s because the Easter eggs to which I’m referring don’t have anything to do with the Easter season.
If you like finding Easter eggs, you’ll probably enjoy sites like The Easter Egg Archive.
I realize that Easter eggs might be fun for those who enjoy finding them, but if you were a computer programmer, would you include one or more Easter eggs in the software that you create?
Several years ago, I showed my college students an Asteroids-type game that was hidden within a very popular and expensive office productivity suite. I remember wondering out loud how many programming hours were spent including that game, how much hard drive space and RAM it wasted, and whether or not it affected its host application’s stability or security.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that Slashdot’s readers have a lot to say about the professional, ethical and technical issues surrounding Easter eggs.