Are you a Hacker? How would you know? If all you know about the word is what you've seen on the evening news, or read in a magazine, you're probably feeling indignant at the very question! But do those magazine-selling headlines really describe what a Hacker is?
Some time ago (MicroTimes, December 1986) I defined a Hacker as "Any person who derives joy from discovering ways to circumvent limitations." The definition has been widely quoted since that time, but unfortunately has yet to make the evening news in the way that a teenager who robs a bank with his telephone does.
Does that teenaged criminal fit my definition? Possibly. Does that fact make all, or even most, Hackers criminals? (Does that fact make all or most Hackers teenagers?) Of course not! So why is there such widespread misinformation about Hackers? Very simply, it's because the criminal hackers, or 'Crackers', have been making news, while the rest of us are virtually invisible. For every irresponsible fool writing a virus program, there are at least twenty software engineers earning a living "...discovering ways to circumvent limitations." When the much-publicized InterNet worm was released by an irresponsible hacker, hundreds of other Hackers applied their considerable talents to the control and eradication of the problem: the brilliance and creativity brought to this task are typical of the kind of people --- Hackers --- that my definition is meant to describe.
Working on the yearly Hackers Conferences has been a mixed experience: on the one hand, helping to bring together 200 of the most brilliant people alive today, and then interacting with them for an entire weekend, is immensely rewarding. On the other hand, trying to explain to others that the Hackers Conference is not a Gathering of Nefarious Criminals out to Wreak Havoc upon Western Civilization does get a bit wearing at times. Also, trying to convince a caller that repeatedly crashing his school district's computer from a pay phone will not, emphatically not, qualify him for an invitation to the conference can be a bit annoying. None of this would be a problem if we hadn't let a small minority --- the Crackers --- steal the show, and become associated with the word 'Hacker' in the minds of the general public. The attendees at the Hackers Conferences --- many of whom hold PhDs, and/or are Presidents or other upper management of Fortune 500 companies --- are (quite understandably) very indignant at being confused with these Crackers.
Taking myself as an example --- no, I don't have a PhD, my only degree is from the School of Hard Knocks, and no, I'm not working in management --- when this article was first published [1989] I was writing software for a company that builds medical image processing equipment. My code controls a product that can, and often does, either improve the quality of medical care, reduce the cost, or both. When I develop a piece of software that goes around some limit I feel very happy, and can often find myself with a silly grin plastered across my face. When some ignorant reporter writes a story that equates the work I do with expensive but childish pranks committed by someone calling himself a "Hacker", I see red.
Are you a Hacker? If you want to break rules just for the sake of breaking rules, or if you just want to hurt or "take revenge" upon somebody or some company, then forget it. But if you delight in your work, almost to the point of being a workaholic, you just might be. If finding the solution to a problem can be not just satisfying but almost an ecstatic experience, you probably are. If you sometimes take on problems just for the sake of finding the solution (and that ecstatic experience that comes with it), then you almost certainly are. Congratulations! You're in good company, with virtually every inventor whose name appears in your high school history book, and with the many thousands of brilliant people who have created the "computer revolution."
What can we do about all that bad press? Meet it head on! Tell the people you work with that you're a Hacker, and what that means. If you know somebody whose work habits, style, or personality make them pretty clearly a Hacker, tell them so and tell them what you mean by that. Show them this article!
Meanwhile, have fun finding those solutions,
circumventing those limitations, and making this a better world thereby.
You are an Artist of Technology, a Rider of the Third Wave, and at least
you can enjoy the ride!
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Bob Bickford is a software consultant who lives in Marin County, California, often Hacking late into the night, and (usually) enjoying it immensely. His wife, Greta, only tolerates this because she's an animation hacker and sometimes does the same thing. Bob can be reached through the Internet.
(An edited version of this article appeared
in Microtimes in early 1989. It was also used, in full, in Tricks of the
Internet Gurus (SAMS, 1994); however, that version contained a serious
editing error which caused me to appear to be contradicting myself -- they
promised to correct it, and judging from the online version of the book,
it appears that they did. (Also available at another site.) Copyright (c)
Robert Bickford, 1989, 1992, 1994)
--
Robert Bickford
"A Hacker is any person who derives joy from
rab @ well
discovering ways to circumvent limitations." rab'86
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"I recognize that a class of criminals
and juvenile delinquents has
taken to calling themselves 'hackers',
but I consider them irrelevant
to the true meaning of the word; just
as the Mafia calls themselves
'businessmen' but nobody pays that fact
any attention."
rab'90
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If you'd like to learn more about the Hacker personality, one of the best ways to do so would be to have a look at the rather extensive writings in the Official Jargon File, which has been published as The New Hackers' Dictionary by MIT Press. (link updated 1999-05-12) And yes, if you look at sense 7 in the entry for the definition of 'hacker' there you'll recognize an obvious paraphrase of my definition above -- this was added in about 1992 (I think) after mine got some fairly wide exposure. You might even like their paraphrase better than my original formulation.
Here is a chapter from John Walker's excellent
book The Hacker's Diet that uses the above definition and builds on it.
By-the-way, I really do strongly recommend John's book to anyone with a
hacker, nerd, or engineer personality who wants to stabilize his or her
weight. John describes his approach as "relentlessly rational" and I have
to agree: this is a diet book for gearheads. And it works: nearly ten years
later, John reports his weight as right in the middle of his target band,
and stable. You can't beat that!
Here is a short (1 page) article on How to Be a Hacker that I recommend; it really catches much of the spirit....
For a longer, and much more informative, article on How to Be a Hacker, I suggest Eric Raymond's at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
I also like Gary Robson's article How to become a hacker located at http://www.robson.org/gary/writing/becomeahacker.html
If you're considering hiring a hacker,
some good information about hackers at work is available.
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I shouldn't really have to say this, since
any person of normal intelligence reading the above article would already
understand it, but...... don't bother sending me email asking for "information
about hacking" or for help in cracking into computer systems or networks.
For one thing, that's NOT hacking, and for another, I'll just forward such
inanities to the local FBI office.
Letters, we get letters....
This is just too funny for words. Notice
the times on the following two messages, and then compare their contents.
From: (name
deleted)
Date: Sun,
14 Jan 96 12:10:46 -800
To: rab
hi.... I'm
new to the net and want to become a hacker & follow
in your
footsteps. Do you know where to get password cracking
programs?
What do you know about Phreaking?
From: (name
deleted)
Date: Sun,
14 Jan 96 12:13:09 -800
To: rab
i read me
bottom of the net page.
FORGET
MY LETTER... & please dont report me. I havent even tried it!!
There are very few times when I really
fall out of my chair laughing my ass off, but this was one of them.
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