The hackers bible

I was first drawn to writing about hackers—those computer pro-

grammers and designers who regard computing as the most

important thing in the world—because they were such fascinating

people. Though some in the field used the term “hacker” as a

form of derision, implying that hackers were either nerdy social

outcasts or “unprofessional” programmers who wrote dirty,

“nonstandard” computer code, I found them quite different.

Beneath their often unimposing exteriors, they were adventurers,

visionaries, risk-takers, artists . . . and the ones who most clearly

saw why the computer was a truly revolutionary tool. Among

themselves, they knew how far one could go by immersion into

the deep concentration of the hacking mind-set: one could go infi-

nitely far. I came to understand why true hackers consider the

term an appellation of honor rather than a pejorative.

As I talked to these digital explorers, ranging from those who

tamed multimillion-dollar machines in the 1950s to contempo-

rary young wizards who mastered computers in their suburban

bedrooms, I found a common element, a common philosophy that

seemed tied to the elegantly flowing logic of the computer itself. It

was a philosophy of sharing, openness, decentralization, and get-

ting your hands on machines at any cost to improve the machines

and to improve the world. This Hacker Ethic is their gift to us:

something with value even to those of us with no interest at all