Who is HACKER ?!

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Do you think hacker is a negative word? Or that a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and compromises security? You are not to be blamed if you think so, especially when there are news about militaries hacking into computer systems of others. Probably this will answer why people prepend the adjective ethical when they are talking about good hackers.

So yes, the popular perception about a hacker is negative. However, it intended to be something else, a hacker is someone who is on the right side of the law. Read Brian Harvey’s paper to understand the origin and meaning of the term hacker.

The definition I like is the one given by Eric Raymond. I also like the statement in there, which introduces a term called cracker, which is what we call a hacker today, unfortunately. A hacker is ethical, a cracker is not.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

If you read the whole thin on how to become a hacker you will realize there is a close association between hackers and open source.

There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you’re a hacker.

Do you see a close association between hackers and open source? Hackers like to understand how systems work and improve on it, to make it solve solutions its makers had not even thought of. Open source enables it. Hackers started open source and open source feeds them enough to get better at it. It is a symbiotic relationship. Open source would not be possible without the spirit of hacker.

Brajeshwar mentions:

Linus Torvalds (the Linux operating system creator) said that Linux hackers work on it because they feel it’s interesting and attractive.

I think a hacker is a dilettante and an amateur, who does whatever he/she does for love and interest. A hacker goes against the norms, not to break, but to innovate. I have met hackers who get a kick out of developing tools to enable others do what they love to do. In software, I believe every professional will benefit by carrying spirit of the hacker. I truly wish that most of my team members are hackers. Paul Graham says:

I know a handful of super-hackers, so I sat down and thought about what they have in common. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program. Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they’re delighted to find people will pay them for.

Next time you read something about a hacker, do not jump to the conclusion that he/she is evil. He/She might be the one behind the tools that let you do what you love to do.

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