Atomic runtime

A whispered incantation, then an exponential explosion: the fork bomb transforms a single line into a cascade of self-replicating processes, rapidly devouring CPU time and saturating the operating system's process table until the system grinds to a halt. Often written in Bash, its simplicity belies a destructive power that dates back to the "RABBITS" hack on a Burroughs 5500 in 1969, which similarly overwhelmed system memory. While historically a prank or a proof-of-concept, modern Unix-like systems now employ `ulimit` to cap the number of user processes, a quiet defense against this tiny, potent haiku of destruction.