cw (06/06/82)
I have never thought that "hacker" was a pleasant term. Would you, for example, want a carpenter to work on your house who was described as a "hacker"? As far as I can tell, "hacker"'s program with axes. There are two mitigations, however. 1. Many hackers have considerable (if disorganized) knowledge and can be a help with difficult problems because they have been through the problem themselves. However, they very often specify local fixes rather than globab corrections, so that you have to evaluate their help carefully. 2. Many good computer scientists describe themselves as "hacker"'s as a way of being modest. Without going into psychoanalytic space, I always try to judge a self-proclaimed hacker's skills for myself. Finally, has anyone else noticed that hacker's spend their undergraduate years in the computer center, get terrific jobs for 3 years, and then burn out? This is a statement of averages, of course, but it seems to be a pattern. Charles
trb (06/07/82)
Hackers program with axes! Gimme a break, huh? Look, pal, I've seen incompetence in my day, and it has nothing to do hackers. Just because you looked it up in your Funkin' Wagnalls and it said that to hack means to bludgeon, it doesn't mean that computer hackers are to be perceived as bludgeon wielders. The hackers I have known tend to love their work and do it well. We have highly refined senses of aesthetics and we pay more than our share of taxes to Uncle Sam. What the hell do you from us? Doth not a hacker bleed? Next time you need some work done, go find a cretin with a HIPO diagramming template in his plastic pocket protector. Give me a guy with a flannel shirt and hiking boots any day of the week (which is when you'll find him working). If you want to make disparaging remarks about hackers, eagle!cw, you're doing it in the wrong space. I hack and I'm proud. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491
jon (06/07/82)
(to the tune of the Dr. Pepper commercial) I'm a hacker, he's a hacker, we're a hacker, she's a hacker, wouldn't you like to be a hacker too? be a hacker...
rick (06/07/82)
It seems that we have a difference of opinion on the definition of "hacker".