[Noisebridge-discuss] What is a hack? What is hacking? Who are hackers?

Crutcher Dunnavant crutcher at gmail.com
Fri Dec 25 02:51:07 UTC 2009


'Hacking' and what constitutes a 'hack' is a point of a great deal of
fighting between many social groups. Everyone wants the terms to cover
what they do, and not what "those people" do, for various values of
the two groups.

This is a childish argument that's 50 years old. I'd rather compare penis sizes.

On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 5:55 PM, Jason Dusek <jason.dusek at gmail.com> wrote:
>  One concern I have with the term "hack" is that it carries
>  with it a notion of shoddiness or incompetence. In acting, a
>  "hack" is an incompetent actor; in software, we often call
>  things "hacks" when we they are done badly.
>
>  However, I think in the warezing trades we generally mean
>  something more specific by "hack".
>
>  It is most common for a solution -- software or hardware -- to
>  be labelled a "hack" when it is "skillfully out of spec". I
>  think that this "deft misuse" is essential to programmers'
>  understanding of the terms "hacker" and "hack". This has
>  natural application outside programming.
>
>  For example, Zedd's handling of uneven door frames and floors
>  through imaginative use of cardboard will always stand out to
>  me as evil and yet strangely correct.
>
> --
> Jason Dusek
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-- 
Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com>



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