[short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To
demonstrate a product or prototype. A far more effective way of
inducing bugs to manifest than any number of test runs,
especially when important people are watching. 2. n. The act
of demoing. "I've gotta give a demo of the drool-proof interface;
how does it work again?" 3. n. Esp. as `demo version', can
refer either to an early, barely-functional version of a program
which can be used for demonstration purposes as long as the
operator uses exactly the right commands and skirts its
numerous bugs, deficiencies, and unimplemented portions, or to a
special version of a program (frequently with some features
crippled) which is distributed at little or no cost to the user for
enticement purposes. 4. [demoscene] A sequence of
demoeffects (usually) combined with self-composed music and
hand-drawn ("pixelated") graphics. These days (1997) usually
built to attend a compo. Often called `eurodemos' outside
Europe, as most of the demoscene activity seems to have gathered
in northern Europe and especially Scandinavia. See also
intro, dentro.
compo n.
[demoscene] Finnish-originated slang for
`competition'. Demo compos are held at a demoparty. The usual
protocol is that several groups make demos for a compo, they are
shown on a big screen, and then the party participants vote for the
best one....
