50 lines
2.2 KiB
Org Mode
50 lines
2.2 KiB
Org Mode
#+title: Hacking
|
|
#+summary: A simple description of what hacking is really about
|
|
#+license: wtfpl
|
|
|
|
* Hacking
|
|
|
|
He's a *hacker*! Oh no, the pirate's going to *hack* our computer! And our mobile
|
|
phones! And our TV! Run for your lives! He'll use our credit cards to *hack*
|
|
even more! He might even *hack* our fridge!
|
|
|
|
That's not a hacker. That's an evil person. Hackers are not evil. Hackers are
|
|
curious people. The evil person described above can be called a /cracker/
|
|
instead. Such a person can be said to /crack/ computers and mobile phones, not
|
|
hack them. Hacking is very different.
|
|
*Hacking* is the act of creating new ways to use objects with well-defined
|
|
uses. It's about experimenting, being clever, and playing. Hacking does not
|
|
have to result in something useful, though it sometimes does in the long
|
|
run. It's about the present.
|
|
|
|
When you've hacked something, you've created a *hack*. It can happen
|
|
spontaneously, or it can happen because you want it to happen.
|
|
|
|
Once, I was eating a pizza in a restaurant with a group of friends when one of
|
|
my friends couldn't eat anymore of his hummus. I had one slice of pizza back,
|
|
and he had a little hummus back. I realized then that I could /combine/ the
|
|
pizza and the hummus, and tada: I ate a hummus pizza slice (which was good, by
|
|
the way); i created a hack.
|
|
|
|
Much more clever hacks have been created, but the hummus pizza example should
|
|
serve as a simple example of what a real-life hack /could/ be --- a hack can be
|
|
so many things.
|
|
|
|
Hacking is often associated with software development, because that's often
|
|
about finding clever solutions and being open for new ways to do things.
|
|
|
|
** "Just stop it already. You've lost."
|
|
|
|
One could argue that the hacking community should just accept that the media
|
|
and the non-hacker part of the public have long ago changed the meaning of
|
|
hacker to "person who breaks digital security", and that hackers should just
|
|
find another word to describe themselves. But if we did that, all the history
|
|
associated with hacking would fade as new generations came along.
|
|
|
|
** External links
|
|
+ [[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html][The Jargon File: hacker]]
|
|
+ [[http://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html][stallman.org: On Hacking]]
|
|
|