Hacker/Cracker & Bakker's Book

[Mike Taylor <mike@tecc.co.uk>]

> Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 14:14:02 +0000
> From: "Patty Ralrick" <pattyralrick@hotmail.com>
> 
>> Off topic: the activity described in this message as "hacking" is
>> actually "cracking".
> 
> I find that extremely amusing - the fact that someone doing
> something illegal wants to be distinguished from a different
> criminal is hysterical!  As I said before, some people have way too
> much time on their hands.

Still off-topic: sorry, but if I've created a misunderstanding, I need
to clear it up.  There is nothing illegal about hacking!  That's why
hackers are so keen not to see (illegal) crackers given their name.
It's rather as if the media used the term "palaeontologist" to
describe cat-burglars.

>From The Jargon File at www.jargon.org --
        hacker n. 

        [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A
        person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable
        systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to
        most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum
        necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even
        obsessively) 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. 5. An expert at a particular program, or
        one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix
        hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people
        who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any
        kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One
        who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming
        or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious
        meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking
        around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct
        term for this sense is cracker.

See http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/hacker.html
and http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/cracker.html
for more details.

ObDinosaur: thanks to those who have replied to my _Dinosaur
Heresies_/_Dinosaur Debates_ question.  It appears that the new book
is indeed the old one, not changed at all, merely reissued by a
different publisher.  There were at one stage plans to change the
name, but in fact the (much better, IMHO) classic name has been
retained: the cover images at amazon.com showing the _Debates_ title
are in error.

 _/|_    _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor | <mike@miketaylor.org.uk> | www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "The sugar-plums are rancid and the stockings are in flames"
         -- Spinal Tap, "Christmas with the Devil"