Notes on  XYZZY 

[from the ADVENT game] The CANONICAL `magic word'. This comes from
ADVENT, in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with
many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there. If you type
xyzzy at the appropriate time, you can move instantly between two
otherwise distant points. If, therefore, you encounter some bit of
MAGIC, you might remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply
"Xyzzy!" "Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he
has protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system
will let you do it anyway." "Xyzzy!" It's traditional for xyzzy to be
an EASTER EGG in games with text interfaces.

Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op command
on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would
typically respond "Nothing happens", just as ADVENT did if the
magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed
the action that enabled the word. In more recent 32-bit versions, by
the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much happens".

Early versions of the popular `minesweeper' game under Microsoft
Windows had a cheat mode triggered by the command
`xyzzy' that turns the top-left pixel of the
screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is
over a bomb. This feature temporarily disappeared in Windows 98, but
reappeared in Windows 2000.

The following passage from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank
Baum, suggesting a possible pre-ADVENT origin, has recently come to
light: "Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!" said Dorothy, who was now standing on
both feet. This ended the saying of the charm, and they heard a great
chattering and flapping of wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys flew
up to them.

The text can be viewed at Project Gutenberg.

Y

YA-
YABA
YAFIYGI
yak shaving
YAUN
yellow card
yellow wire
Yet Another
YHBT
YKYBHTLW
YMMV
You are not expected to understand this
You know you've been hacking too long when
Your mileage may vary
Yow!
yoyo mode
Yu-Shiang Whole Fish

J3N Research Labs

---