"what is hacking ?"
A hacker is a member of the computer programmer subculture originated in the 1960s in the United States academia, in particular around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[citation needed]
Some members of the "hacker" community most emphatically differentiate
the term "hacker" from malicious hackers (whom they very strongly prefer
to call "crackers").[1]
Other hackers make no such distinction. The latter hackers' view that
hackerdom is not inherently moral/immoral or ethical/unethical is
broadly similar to the concept or attitude of a grey hat hacker.
and has in turn accelerated that process.[citation needed] In 1975, hackerdom was scattered across several different families of operating systems and disparate networks;[citation needed] today it is largely a Unix and TCP/IP phenomenon, and is concentrated around various operating systems based on free software and open-source software development.[citation needed]
Hacker ethics are concerned primarily with sharing, openness, collaboration,[citation needed] and engaging in the Hands-On Imperative.[6]
Linus Torvalds, one of the leaders of the Open Source movement (Known primarily for developing Linux's core), has noted in the book "The Hacker Ethic"[7] that these principles have evolved from the known Protestant Ethics and incorporates the spirits of capitalism, as introduced in the early 20th century by Max Weber.
The academic hacker subculture is defined by shared work and play focused around central artifacts.[citation needed] Some of these artifacts are very large; the Internet, the World Wide Web, the GNU Project, and the Linux kernel are all hacker creations,[citation needed] works of which the subculture considers itself primary custodian.[citation needed]
The academic hacker subculture has developed a rich[citation needed] range of symbols that serve as recognition symbols and reinforce its group identity.[citation needed] GNU's Gnu; the BSD Daemon; Tux, the Linux penguin; and the Perl Camel stand out as examples. The use of the glider structure from Conway's Game of Life as a general Hacker Emblem has been proposed by Eric S. Raymond.[citation needed]
The academic hacker subculture has an annual ceremonial day—April Fool's.[citation needed] There is a long tradition of perpetrating elaborate jokes, hoaxes, pranks and fake websites on this date,[citation needed] which includes the publication of the annual joke RFC.
An aspect of hack value is performing feats for the sake of showing that they can be done, even if others think it is difficult. Using things in a unique way outside their intended purpose is often perceived as having hack value. Examples are using a dot matrix impact printer to produce musical notes, using a flatbed scanner to take ultra-high-resolution photographs or using an optical mouse as barcode reader.
A solution or feat has hack value if it is done in a way that has finesse, cleverness or brilliance. So creativity is an important part of the meaning. For example, picking a difficult lock has hack value; smashing a lock does not. As another example, proving Fermat's last theorem by linking together most of modern mathematics has hack value; solving the four color map problem by exhaustively trying all possibilities does not (both of these long-standing mathematical challenges have now in fact been proven).
Hacker (programmer subculture)
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Definition
The Jargon File, an influential but not universally accepted compendium of hacker slang, defines hacker as "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary." The Request for Comments (RFC) 1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, amplifies this meaning as "A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular."[3] As documented in the Jargon File, these hackers are disappointed by the mass media and general public's usage of the word hacker to refer to security breakers, calling them “crackers” instead. This includes both “good” crackers (“white hat hackers”) who use their computer security related skills and knowledge to learn more about how systems and networks work and to help to discover and fix security holes, as well as those more "evil" crackers (“black hat hackers”) who use the same skills to author harmful software (like viruses, trojans, etc.) and illegally infiltrate secure systems with the intention of doing harm to the system.[4] The programmer subculture of hackers, in contrast to the cracker community, generally sees computer security related activities as contrary to the ideals of the original and true meaning of the hacker term that instead related to playful cleverness.[4]and has in turn accelerated that process.[citation needed] In 1975, hackerdom was scattered across several different families of operating systems and disparate networks;[citation needed] today it is largely a Unix and TCP/IP phenomenon, and is concentrated around various operating systems based on free software and open-source software development.[citation needed]
Ethics and principles
Main article: Hacker ethic
Many of the values and tenets of the free and open source software movement stem from the hacker ethics that originated at MIT[5] and at the Homebrew Computer Club.[citation needed] The Hacker Ethics were chronicled by Steven Levy in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution[6] and in other texts.[citation needed]Hacker ethics are concerned primarily with sharing, openness, collaboration,[citation needed] and engaging in the Hands-On Imperative.[6]
Linus Torvalds, one of the leaders of the Open Source movement (Known primarily for developing Linux's core), has noted in the book "The Hacker Ethic"[7] that these principles have evolved from the known Protestant Ethics and incorporates the spirits of capitalism, as introduced in the early 20th century by Max Weber.
Artifacts and customs
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The academic hacker subculture has developed a rich[citation needed] range of symbols that serve as recognition symbols and reinforce its group identity.[citation needed] GNU's Gnu; the BSD Daemon; Tux, the Linux penguin; and the Perl Camel stand out as examples. The use of the glider structure from Conway's Game of Life as a general Hacker Emblem has been proposed by Eric S. Raymond.[citation needed]
The academic hacker subculture has an annual ceremonial day—April Fool's.[citation needed] There is a long tradition of perpetrating elaborate jokes, hoaxes, pranks and fake websites on this date,[citation needed] which includes the publication of the annual joke RFC.
Use outside of computing
While the word hacker to refer to someone who enjoys playful cleverness is most often applied to computer programmers, it is sometimes used for people who apply the same attitude to other fields.[1] For example, Richard Stallman describes the silent composition 4′33″ by John Cage and the 14th century palindromic three-part piece "Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement" by Guillaume de Machaut as hacks.[8] According to the Jargon File,[2] the word hacker was used in a similar sense among radio amateurs in the 1950s, predating the software hacking community.Hack value
Hack value is the notion used by hackers to express that something is worth doing or is interesting.[9] This is something that hackers often feel intuitively about a problem or solution; the feeling approaches the mystical[10] for some.An aspect of hack value is performing feats for the sake of showing that they can be done, even if others think it is difficult. Using things in a unique way outside their intended purpose is often perceived as having hack value. Examples are using a dot matrix impact printer to produce musical notes, using a flatbed scanner to take ultra-high-resolution photographs or using an optical mouse as barcode reader.
A solution or feat has hack value if it is done in a way that has finesse, cleverness or brilliance. So creativity is an important part of the meaning. For example, picking a difficult lock has hack value; smashing a lock does not. As another example, proving Fermat's last theorem by linking together most of modern mathematics has hack value; solving the four color map problem by exhaustively trying all possibilities does not (both of these long-standing mathematical challenges have now in fact been proven).
