When I developed a text-mode UI library (not using curses) with a friend in university for fun, we tested this on his actual terminal connected via serial cable

When I developed a text-mode UI library (not using curses) with a friend in university for fun, we tested this on his actual terminal connected via serial cable. You'll notice unnecessary redraws very quickly that way. (Granted, piping the output through some throttling may have had the same effect, but there was something about writing modern code (even as students) and seeing it work on decades-old hardware :).)