Language: Hackers and Hacking
By Daniel Miessler on August 9th, 2005: Tagged as Culture | Language | Programming
Over the years I’ve been searching for the perfect definition of the word hacker. My first exposure to the word came from movies and the media, then input from friends and mentors helped me reshape that view.
Well, after much deliberation, I think I’ve finally figured out the “true” meaning of the word — or, at least my definition of it.
Hacking is simply creating, i.e. building something that didn’t exist before. New software, new communication systems, new music, new architecture, whatever.
This approach is evident both in Eric Raymond’s definition, and in Paul Graham’s comments. Their definitions seem to match perfectly, and given their combined experience I think I’m going to adopt their definition rather than a more specific, discipline-oriented one.
I guess the key difference between this definition and the one I had up til now is the requirement for someone to actually make things in order to gain the title. I used to include people such as myself who masterfully implement – in an out-of-the-box sort of way – pre-existing solutions. I do think that’s one definition, but I don’t think it’s the purest one. I think real hackers make stuff.
Hackers
- Fyodor
- Rain Forest Puppy
- Wietse Venema
- Linus Torvalds
- Bram Cohen
- Joshua Schacter
Now, where to draw the line is a tough call, and I think it’s pretty open. I mean, it all depends on the context and scope. If someone made a really nice calendar app in Perl, posted it, and people start using it, maybe that’d make him a hacker on some scale. But if he went to OSCon and called himself one, he’d look awfully silly compared to the other attendees.
Torvalds: “So, I hear you’re a hacker. What have you written?” Clueless1: “Yeah, I wrote PCal, it’s a 4 line Perl script for randomly selecting a day of the week.” Torvalds: “You make me sad.”
Anyway, I know I’m right on the border of pedantic when it comes to stuff like this, but precise language is important to me. If anyone has anything to add to this thought process I’d love to hear from you.
