Comment by aag

1 year ago

The term "hacker," even in the computer field, originally had a larger scope than computer security. It had a more philosophical definition, too. I host a copy of the Jargon File[1], compiled by Guy Steele et al., on my web site. It defined "hacker" as[2]:

  HACKER [originally, someone who makes furniture with an
  axe] n. 1. A person who enjoys learning the details of
  programming systems and how to stretch their capabilities,
  as opposed to most users who prefer to learn only the
  minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically,
  or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing
  about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating
  hack value (q.v.). 4. A person who is good at programming
  quickly. Not everything a hacker produces is a hack. 5. An
  expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does
  work using it or on it; example: "A SAIL
  hacker". (Definitions 1 to 5 are correlated, and people
  who fit them congregate.) 6. A malicious or inquisitive
  meddler who tries to discover information by poking
  around.  Hence "password hacker", "network hacker".

I'm guessing that PG had this broader definition in mind when Hacker News was started.

No history of the term "hacker," however brief, would be complete with a reference to The UNIX-HATERS Handbook[3].

[1] https://speechcode.com/jargon/

[2] https://speechcode.com/jargon/jargon.info.Hacker.html

[3] https://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf

6 comments

aag

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BuildTheRobots  1 year ago

> The term "hacker," even in the computer field, originally had a larger scope than computer security.

I've been helping run a Hackspace for a few years; I can't tell you how many times (sometimes per week or even day depending on what I'm doing) I have to have this conversation.

I've gotten quite used to going through the patter with non-tech people - try dealing with the local council, or applying for insurance or even personal jobs when it's on your CV. Thankfully a lot of the older people remember the term "hack" meaning "amateur" which eases explanations in a workshop context.

I always assumed IT people would realise the non-negative connotations, but that really isn't the case.

  • dhosek  1 year ago

    In the late 80s/early 90s hacker became much less someone doing coding stuff for fun and much more someone trying to break into systems. The main mailing list for TeX related stuff, for example was called TeXHaX and no one assumed people were trying to use TeX to break into the NSA. Similarly, the online space for Perl folks was Perl Hackers (although I see that putting “Perl Hackers” into Google mostly gives results about using Perl as a hacking in the sense of breaking into systems sense and less the programming for the joy of it).

    Another word whose change in meaning over the years has resulted in its original sense being effectively erased.

  • Suzuran  1 year ago

    Knowing of the non-negative case does not necessarily mean that we refuse to acknowledge that languages evolve and terms gain new meanings and lose old ones.