[aklug] Re: Why hacking isn't fun anymore

On Aug 8, 2010, at 7:52 AM, Royce Williams <royce@alaska.net> wrote:

> Christopher Howard said, on 08/07/2010 10:00 PM:
>> I knew I'd get a few comments about the cracking vs. hacking thing.
>> Frankly, if you pick any random person off the street, and tell him you
>> are a hacker, he'll think you break into computer systems. If you tell
>> him you are a cracker, you will make a very different impression.
>>=20
>> Furthermore, I've seen the signatures on files actually left by people
>> who have broken into a system. They called themselves "hackers". So I'll
>> call 'em hackers if I want to do so.
>=20
> Your call, of course. I guess I would argue that just because usage by
> the clueless (not you, as you're making a deliberate choice; I mean the
> non-technical masses and the script kiddies) is trending that way, it
> doesn't mean that we all have to go along. Most people under 30 are
> completely oblivious to the proper use of apostrophes, too, but I pipe
> up about that as well. :-) I'm all for language evolving, but I'll
> oppose anything that I see as a loss of signal.
>=20
> In a larger sense, we (as geeks) have inherited a lot of vocabulary (and
> even grammar) from a fine history of computing culture. These folks
> struggled to make tinkering and solving problems -- true hacking --
> respectable and legal. I, for one, believe that those people deserve
> better than to have a perfectly good word, that they were proud to use,
> usurped. So I'll call *them* hackers if I want to do so. :-)
>=20
> Which is not to say that I don't know why it happened. "Hacker" sounds
> intuitively negative. We ourselves call a quick and dirty programming
> job a "hack". This usage was deliberately self-deprecating. "Hacking
> away" at something does reflect something about how we feel about
> ourselves and the process sometimes.
>=20
> The real issue, which is also touched on indirectly by your point about
> "cracker" (which no one uses) is this: there is no good word for how I'm
> wanting to use "hacker". The closest that the masses are catching on to
> is "geek", which isn't the same; being a geek about something is about
> driving deep into a topic, but not necessarily capturing someone's quest
> for better code or solutions.
>=20
> We need something that means "I tinker, try to solve problems, and
> attempt to make things happen elegantly with X", where "X" is a language
> or other programmable framework. It needs to capture something beyond
> what "coder" and "programmer" do, something about both the ugliness of
> kluges and the beauty of the Right Way to do something, and about the
> quest (and necessity) of both.
>=20
> I'm poking holes without proposing solutions on this one; I don't know
> of a better word. But I do think that we need one, since "hacker" is
> pretty much a lost cause.
>=20
> Royce
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>=20

As a lawyer I got a kick out of the "usage by the clueless" bit - bit of pot=
 calling the kettle black vis-a-vis initial discussion of the statute..... E=
veryone's a web designer don't you know........

Let's face it, 'mirkans love the cowboy image, and many coders reveled in th=
e outlaw image conveyed by the term "hacker"; certainly "kludger" does not c=
onvey any such romantic ideation.=20=
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Received on Sun Aug 8 11:16:45 2010