1. Re: Definition of 'hacker'
From: RedWordSmith
>I once had a discussion with someone who considered himself a hacker as
>to what the definition of "hacker" actually was. He said he was a
>hacker in the "old" sense of the term, that he tried to reverse engineer
>file formats*. To the best of my knowledge, he's the only one who uses
>that definition
[...]
>*How anyone could consider this "hacking" is beyond me. It's
>impressive, but it's not hacking under any other definition I've heard
>of.
Well, that's my definition of it...well, part of it.
Hacker - n. Programmer who writes inspired/induced (rather than
chosen or designed) code; or who makes use of existing software/
hardware systems in an unusual way (rather than the way it was
meant to be used) for the thrill/fun of it (rather than for the pay).
The thrill/fun comes from coding something 'impossible', unknowable,
ununderstandable, or just plain new; and from the enlightenment that
accompanies it.
For instance, deciphering proprietary file formats with non-public
specs, altering programs to function above-and-beyond what they're
supposed to, optimizing something an order of magnitude, exceeding
the accepted limitations of a language, piece of software, or hardware;
reverse-engineering other code, etc.
Really, that encompasses most of the other definitions. There's no
implication or exclusion as to whether what's being hacked is
telecomm software, crippleware, a virus, or just a prime-number
generator. In fact, I think most 'true hackers' would take on any or
all of those at least once just for the challenge and interest.
The thing is, it's about learning, and going above-and-beyond.
Thinking in the realm of the machine instead of translating
human-realm thoughts. Doing it for malicious intent or a free-ride
(whether on crippled software or a network) isn't excluded by the
definition, but neither are they implied. That's okay because it fits
common usage of the word and because there are often multiple
motivations.
To indicate a lack of sinister intent, a pure motivation, one can simply
prefix it with a qualifier ( 'true hacker', 'zen hacker', 'old-school
hacker'). The same can be done with sinister motivations if you
want ('political hacker' hacks systems of those who oppose their
beliefs, 'thieving hacker' hacks for profit, 'malicious hacker' hacks just
for the sake of screwing things up for other people, etc).
Well, that's my thoughts on it, anyway.
