Hacker Definitions

The word "hacker" sure does get used a lot. It even appears many times on the Wiki. I don't think everyone is using it in the same way. Write down what hacker means to you, and how you use the word.

For starters, it is absolutely mandatory to mention the NewHackersDictionary (a.k.a. the JargonFile). There is an online definition of the term here at http://sagan.earthspace.net/jargon/jargon_23.html#SEC30 (at least as of his writing anyway ;-) This definition basically describes the term from its use as part of the MIT "Hacker Culture", back in the days when common usage of the term "hacker" had positive connotations. It also describes how the term "hacker" is often misused by the media to mean "cracker" (one who "cracks" into computer systems to gain unauthorized access).

But the term "hacker" is commonly used these days to refer to shoddy or unsound development practice. Calling someone a hacker in this sense is libelous and defamatory. Much of this new meaning is due in large part to those wanting for formalism and rigor and "proper science" looking down their noses at the MIT hacker culture and judging them as a bunch of undisciplined and impetuous evildoers. This displays a very deep misunderstanding of many things about the hacker culture that were actually quite sound, though perhaps not as formally articulated as some would have liked (or perhaps not in the "accepted" forums).

For better or for worse however, this other definition exists and is in common use. Rather than fight over the "true" definition, lets discuss the different definitions and uses we commonly encounter so we might better understand them and where they come from.

So which definition(s) of hacker do you use? Which do you prefer (and why)? What does hacker mean to you when you see it, and what does it mean when you use it?

-- BradAppleton

I have no idea where I read it, but someone has suggested that the meaning of someone who throws things together has been around a long time, perhaps even pre-dating computers. I believe that they suggested that the term was co-opted by the hacker culture as a self-deprecating term. Has anyone else heard this?

It's generally easy to use context to determine the intended meaning when the word is used. That is, if one knows the various meanings. Unfortunately, many in the general public only know the "cracker" definition. So I tend not to even use the term much.

I do, however, use the verb form of the word as in "hack the NT registry". Somehow that one comes up frequently! ;> --KielHodges

On the DistributedCoalition mailing list, RonResnick? described two kinds of people typically found in object technology in a discussion about open source and OO. Here is an excerpt:

(a) those who do it for love, inherent hackers who just wanna hack, but who want to do so in an "adult" manner. If Perl is the Fisher-Price scale-model of a SUV "toy" for 6 year olds, then Java is the real thing Chevy Blazer SUV "toy" for the adult hacker... (offensive statement to Perl fans? perhaps..)

(b) those who do it for "engineering" reasons - you can build more "efficient" software production mechanisms for industry based upon reuse.etc.... This camp will throw around terms like BPR and traceability and regression testing and lots of scary words like that, in their embrace of "OO methodology" :-).

Type (a) does it for the love of the sport. It's like the old time baseball and hockey players who played professional because they were great at it and loved the sport. It's hard to measure a hacker, but one hackers knows when he is in the company of another.

The language comparison in a) is inane.

Another Wiki page related to this topic is KoansMetaphorsAndParables and KoAn?.

--PhilipEskelin

Here's a Hacker FAQ from EricRaymond:

http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

My first recollection of HACK in reference to computers is from the 70's and it was a button proclaiming "I am a HACK (Human at Computer Keyboard)." -- GlennWilson

Add your own definition of "hacker" here!