Ask HN: Why Hackers?

[kmuzykov]

Hi All,

I think I've missed something. When did software developers, project managers or any IT related persons have become Hackers?

I've googled it and found no information on how it come this way.

I've never been a Hacker in it's old meaning. Wanted to be in my 11-15th, but everything ended without any serious hacks or anything like that. But in those days, to become a Hacker you had to reach some level, you had to get approval of community. Someone never could call himself a Hacker by himself.

Nowadays it looks like anyone can call himself a hacker after a "Hello world!" app.

So the question is why do you call yourself a Hacker?

[mindcrime]

I've always thought of being a Hacker as more of a mindset than a badge of accomplishment. There are famous or great Hackers, like Linus or Stallman or whoever, but I've always thought of anybody who codes and has a passion for exploring new things, learning, pushing the boundaries, optimization, novel techniques, etc. as a Hacker.

And of course that's only within the context of writing software. The "hacker mentality" is really independent of coding. As far as I'm concerned, you can "hack" any sort of system, so there's no reason there couldn't be "hacker lawyers,"hacker librarians," "hacker doctors," etc.

[hga]

Russell Noftsker, MIT AI Lab administrator from 1965 to 1973 (when he took a fall to keep two big names from becoming Federal felons) and founder of Symbolics was described in Levy's book as an explosives hacker. When he was growing up in Texas he and a friend would do work for construction/mining/whatever sorts of companies and take much or all of their pay in real, professional explosives.

When he moved to Boston, Levy said his wife had to talk him out of using det cord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonating_cord) to clear sidewalks of snow. (All that from memory.)

I'm willing to call him a hacker; as you say, it's a mindset and is independent of coding.

[kmuzykov]

I totally agree. But why use word "Hacker"? Let's make up a new word for such state of mind. When I've first read Hacker's manifesto (http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3&mode=...) I wanted to become a Hacker, but never did, although everything written there is very close for me. But I've never called myself a Hacker.

[mindcrime]

Well, you could try. But you'd be fighting a lot of history and inertia. The "Hacker Subculture" has been around for quite a while and that usage of the word is pretty commonplace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer...

[kmuzykov]

Thanks for the links, I've somehow missed new description of a Hacker - "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."

Looks like now you can learn Ctrl+S (which is above the minimum necessary, File -> Save) and call yourself a Hacker.

[mindcrime]

Yeah, but that's not exactly "stretching it's capabilities."

Ultimately labels are just conveniences. Anybody can call themselves a Hacker if they want to, even if they don't even know Ctrl+S. But the rest of the world is free to acknowledge or ignore their self-label. Personally I'm quite happy with that state of affairs. The last thing I'd want is a Bureau of Hackers that you have to fill out 3 forms, in triplicate and pay a "filing fee" to every year, in order to be called a Hacker. :-)