[perseusmandate]

The fast inverse square root algorithm Carmack invented for Quake 3's lighting is the definition of elegant code

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root

[xsmasher]

It's EFFICIENT, but it's the opposite of elegant. If you looked at the code you would have no idea what it is doing or meant to do.

Elegant code should be simple, readable, and apply some leverage to make a difficult problem more clear.

[dwd]

It was a very different time with serious limits on graphics, memory and disk space.

Going back even further some of the early 8bit games were engineering marvels where the only hacks were to squeeze out every last bit of memory.