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From: garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Where have all the hackers gone? (reposted)
Message-ID: <629@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Dec-84 10:56:52 EST
Article-I.D.: bunker.629
Posted: Wed Dec 12 10:56:52 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Dec-84 06:25:51 EST
References: <3137@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct
Lines: 48

> Subject: Where have all the hackers gone?
> Newsgroups: net.college, net.cse
> 
> The following is a message that I have forwarded for a friend of mine:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The department I belong has very few undergraduate hacker
> types.  They are being replaced by normal looking, normal acting people who
> only want to make money.  They do their assignments on time, and seldom write
> anything that they aren't either getting credit for, or being paid for.  It's
> sickening.

When (if?) you get out of school, you will find that doing assignments on
time is a definite plus in the professional world.  If you are good at it,
you will only do what you get paid for, because you will not have time to
do other things.  He who pays the fiddler calls the tune; he who pays the
programmer specifies what programs will be written.  "Only" want to make
money?  I doubt that; I, for one, like making money, but I also enjoy
learning how to do what I do well.

And if my appearance or behavior makes you ill, so sorry, but tough.

>   Where have the hackers gone?  They must have gone somewhere.

Perhaps they turned into "normal looking, normal acting" people when
they decided to make a living...

> Does anyone know of a computer science department somewhere that
> has decent facilities but still allows undergraduates the oppertunity
> to work on their own prodjects.  Is there anyplace out there that
> gives undergraduates access to uucp.  I know that that is a lot to ask
> of a department, but the must be someplace, deep in the backwaters of
> computer sciencedom, laid back enough to give undergraduates the
> opportunity to really learn how to program.

...instead of looking for a free ride, as you seem to be.  The way the
world typically works is that you show that you are responsible, by
completing projects assigned by others (in your case, as an undergraduate),
and then you create your own projects, with the approval of those with
the authority and/or the resources (in your case, if you get that far,
your graduate advisor).

"To really learn how to program"  requires discipline, the ability
to work with others, and the ability to work according to others'
specifications.

> 	Steven (Harley) Davidson
> 
Gary Samuelson