simple matrix-style demo. done out of nostalgia for what it was like to study linux in the 90s.

nostalgic.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import locale
import curses as c
from curses.wrapper import wrapper
import random
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL,'')
coding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
random.seed()

# more = use digits more often
digits_weight = 0.6
spaces_weight = 0.8
bold_weight = 0.5

katakana = range(0xff66, 0xff9d)
digits = range(0x0030, 0x0039)

katakana = map(lambda cp: unichr(cp).encode(coding),
        katakana)
digits = map(lambda cp: unichr(cp).encode(coding),
        digits)

def a_char():
    if random.random() <= digits_weight:
        return random.choice(digits)
    else:
        return random.choice(katakana)

def main(w):
    c.init_pair(1, c.COLOR_GREEN, c.COLOR_BLACK)
    attr = c.color_pair(1)
    miny, minx = w.getbegyx()
    maxy, maxx = w.getmaxyx()

    while 1:
        if random.random() <= spaces_weight:
            char = ' '
        else:
            char = a_char()

        if random.random() <= bold_weight:
            attr |= c.A_BOLD
        else:
            attr ^= c.A_BOLD

        y = random.choice(range(miny, maxy-1))
        x = random.choice(range(minx, maxx-1))

        w.move(y,x)
        w.addstr(char, attr)
        w.refresh()

wrapper(main)