Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!CHIASSON@DREA-XX.ARPA From: CHIASSON@DREA-XX.ARPA (Don Chiasson) Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Hackers Message-ID: <879@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 07:22:31 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.879 Posted: Thu Aug 22 07:22:31 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 19:21:34 EDT Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Lines: 35 There has been some discussion on this bulletin board about the meaning of the word 'hacker'. When in doubt about the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary: From: "The Hacker's Dictionary" by Steele, Woods, Finkel, Crispin, Stallman, and Goodfellow; published by Harper and Row, 1983. HACKER, noun 1. A person who enjoys learning the details of computer systems and how to stretch their capabilities--as opposed to most users of computers, who prefer to learn only the minimum amount necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically, or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating HACK VALUE. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. (By the way, not everything a hacker produces is a hack.) 5. An expert on a particular program, or one who frequently does work on it. Example: "A SAIL hacker." (This definition and the preceding ones are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. A malicious or inquisitive meddler who tries to discover information by poking around. For example, a "password hacker" is one who tries, possibly by deceptive or illegal means, to discover other people's computer passwords. A "network hacker" is one who tries to learn about the computer network (possibly because he wants to improve it or possibly because he wants to interfere--one can tell the difference only by context and tone of voice). -------