Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 Fluke 1/4/84; site fluke.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!fluke!inc From: inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Hacking Message-ID: <299@tpvax.fluke.UUCP> Date: Thu, 14-Jun-84 13:27:56 EDT Article-I.D.: tpvax.299 Posted: Thu Jun 14 13:27:56 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 16-Jun-84 03:49:57 EDT References: <1353@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Everett, WA Lines: 48 Judy may not "hack" for a living according to the New Collegiate Dictionary's definition, but I stand on the side of dynamism in language. Latin is a dead language precisely because it was unable to change in response to people's need to express new concepts. There is nothing at all wrong with having a word serve two (or several) purposes. I object to this word for two reasons: first, because it connotes all of the other things in the traditional definitions. There is a difference in a words "meaning" and its connotations. Words have flavors, sometimes subtle. I really don't care how the media chooses to define "hacker", because I believe in the right of all of us to be self-defining. The other thing I find objectionable is that if it is used to refer to a profesional programmer, it is probably the wrong word. A professional police officer doesn't like being called a flat-foot, but he doesn't post endless articles to his colleagues saying how much he doesn't like it. My point is that *lots* of professions have such terms attached to them, and it really doesn't hurt anybody. My own feeling is that when the dust settles there will be a new definition added to the word hacker, viz: hacker, n. An inexperienced or unskillful computer programmer. Sometimes also used to describe one who uses a computer for the prepertration of crime or pranks. As an aside, I would like to introduce a term I invented for my good friend, Rick Chinn, the most accomplished hacker on the planet: progbot. (For "programming robot".) He seems to wear that badge with pride. And when he calls *me* that, I feel like I've been admitted to a cozy little club. I am not a programmer, but a technical writer, so it is often necessary for me to throw together a quick hack to see how the software I'm documenting works. Before any of my "programs" get published, however, they *always* are proofread by a pro, and usually improved. My forte is the stuff to the right of the comment marker. :-) A good day to all you Progbots and Hackers! (and you too, Judy - say hi to all your Professional Programmer friends!) -- From the ever smiling, .). ever happy fingers of: V Gary Benson + + John Fluke Mfg. Co. ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM !fluke!inc + +