http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-C++-code-that-you-have-ever-written with green added

matrix.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <chrono>
#include <thread>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <sstream>

enum Color
{
    NONE = 0,
    BLACK, RED, GREEN,
    YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA,
    CYAN, WHITE
};

static std::string set_color(Color foreground = NONE, Color background = NONE)
{
    std::stringstream s;
    s << "\033[";
    if (!foreground && ! background){
        s << "0"; // reset colors if no params
    }
    if (foreground) {
        s << 29 + foreground;
        if (background) s << ";";
    }
    if (background) {
        s << 39 + background;
    }
    s << "m";
    return s.str();
}

const int width = 158;        // Width of terminal window
const int flipsPerLine = 5;    // No. of columns changed per line
const int millisecondsOfSleep = 50; // Delay between lines in millisecond
int main() {
    std::cout << set_color(GREEN);
    
    srand(time_t(NULL));
    bool switches[width] = { true };
    const std::string garbage = "1234567890/*-+.,./;[]\\=_~`!@#$%^&*()";
    const auto glen = garbage.size();
    while (true) {        // Waiting for Ctrl-C
      	for (int i = 0; i != width; ++i) {
      	    if (switches[i]) {
      		      std::cout << garbage[rand() % glen];
      	    } else {
      		      std::cout << ' ';
      	    }
      	}
      	std::cout << std::endl;
      	for (int i = 0; i != flipsPerLine; ++i) {
      	    int x = rand() % width;
      	    switches[x] = !switches[x];
      	    // Was switches[x] = (switches[x]) ? false : true; thanks to Adrian Petrescu
      	    // Flipping switches
      	}
	      std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(millisecondsOfSleep));
    }
    return 0;
}