2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
|
|
|
hacker
|
|
|
|
|
|
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
|
|
|
n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who
|
|
|
|
|
enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch
|
|
|
|
|
their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the
|
|
|
|
|
minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary , usefully
|
|
|
|
|
amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding
|
|
|
|
|
of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in
|
|
|
|
|
particular. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who
|
|
|
|
|
enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A
|
|
|
|
|
person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at
|
|
|
|
|
programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who
|
|
|
|
|
frequently does work using it or on it; as in a Unix hacker. (Definitions 1
|
|
|
|
|
through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert
|
|
|
|
|
or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7.
|
|
|
|
|
One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or
|
|
|
|
|
circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to
|
|
|
|
|
discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker ,
|
|
|
|
|
network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker. The term hacker
|
|
|
|
|
also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net
|
|
|
|
|
(see the network. For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see
|
|
|
|
|
the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is
|
|
|
|
|
seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic ).
|
|
|
|
|
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself
|
|
|
|
|
that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy
|
|
|
|
|
based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There
|
|
|
|
|
is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a
|
|
|
|
|
hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled
|
|
|
|
|
bogus ). See also geek , wannabee. This term seems to have been first
|
|
|
|
|
adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and
|
|
|
|
|
the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this
|
|
|
|
|
entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
|
|
|
|
|
|
