Oh yea... Check out this link: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/index.html

Yes, these are easter eggs on almost every single type of IC device known.

Sorry your job is so unfulfillable and you are unable to leave your mark on the world. For the above engineers, such is not the case.

Sorry, you are wrong. Easter Eggs are not documented, by definition. They generally ARE authorized. They are for the customer to find, and having been in project management for large commercial software projects, I know full well how authorized they are. They are fully tested, fully implemented features. Just not documented.

The software I have seen these implemented in, some times, costs more than your annual salary for a single license. You bet your ass management is aware of them. You think a lower level manager or developer wants to be sued by a major aerospace corporation for a bug in an easter egg that caused a major disaster? Yet they are still there. Sometimes very cleverly hidden and many times will never be discovered.

In fact, the original poster stated quite clearly "if you have complete control over the final product." That implies management, not a code monkey. It also implies management approval and encouragement.

Generally, the easter eggs I have seen and even implemented were no done by code jockeys, they were put there by the management of the team. Large, commercial software projects almost always have something of this sort. One of a kind contract software almost always does not. It depends on the project. It is not immature to implement something like this, anymore than it is to have credits in a video game or in a movie. Ever seen a dvd easter egg? Putting some folks into a small easter egg project is a way of rewarding overworked developers as well.

It all depends on the project, your level of responsibility in the project, etc. Easter eggs on large projects are definitely a management decision. Generally they even have to pass code review and QA.

Just because YOU have never had the opportunity to implement one because of the nature of your work, doesn't mean it is immature and unprofessional. Besides, most of the projects I have ever worked on have been extremely interesting, complicated and yes, were works of art in some fashion. BTW, I have seen easter eggs in FEA software that most definitely DOES have lives on the line, if you enjoy flying in airplanes or driving in cars. In fact, ALL of the major CFD and FEA packages have easter eggs in them.

Every drop of water on earth has been here for billions of years. What you drink today has been part of blood, oceans, urine, feces, vomit, plants, semen and anything else containing water.