What programming tasks should you be able to accomplish to be considered an "A" ranked Hacker?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=111413

by mfruhling • 18 years ago

8 24 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'd like to know where I rank against my peers. How can you figure out if you're at the top, middle, or bottom of your field?

bayareaguy• 18 years ago

You need to be less subjective if you want a reasonable answer. Metrics are out there for things like salary, number of users, lines of code written (for open source stuff at least), number of appearances on David Letterman..

pius• 18 years ago

Can you write a compiler? Are you comfortable in freedom languages? Can you grok functional programming?

Those are a few good questions.

pg2• 18 years ago

The real test is whether you can discover new questions.

watmough• 18 years ago

Ok, what the heck is going on in that Arc Challenge? I just can't make any sense of the flow in it.

pg2• 18 years ago

Take a look at the series of hello-worlds at the end of the Arc tutorial. That's actually where the challenge problem came from. It was just the first hello-world I wrote that did anything.

dfranke4• 18 years ago

Can you do any of the following?

* Write a compiler of any kind (native code, bytecode, HLL-to-HLL, whatever).

* Write an ACID storage engine.

* Write a trivial OS, including the bootloader.

* Write any non-trivial component of a real OS kernel.

* Design a CPU or a microcontroller.

* Write a rendering loop for a 3D game.

* Design a secure cryptosystem out of existing cryptographic primitives.

I give you an A- if you can do one of these, and an A+ if you can do two or more.

sanj2• 18 years ago

I'd add:

* build a non-trivial and well-performing interpreter

dfranke4• 18 years ago

Depending on how loosely you define well-performing, that probably entails my definition of a compiler.

ken2• 18 years ago

I had to do half of these to get a CS degree 10 years ago, and I can assure you that the vast majority of my class was not what I would call an A-list hacker.

dfranke4• 18 years ago

It doesn't count if you have a professor holding your hand every step of the way and giving you a framework suited to exactly the project you're working on and no other.

Nonetheless, which half do you mean? In my OS class we just worked with a toy MINIX derivative and never got down to anything nearly as nitty-gritty as a bootloader, and the people who didn't drop my compilers class were A-list hackers. I never did any of the others as an undergrad, though I could have and didn't take the class where you build a CPU.

flashgordon• 18 years ago

Isnt this what you do in your undergrad CS courses? With pretty standard algorithms?

dfranke4• 18 years ago

See my response to ken.

imsteve• 18 years ago

It is like asking who is the greatest fighter among men who have never fought anyone. Go build something new.

mynameishere2• 18 years ago

  Greater Hacker: Richard Stallman.
  Lesser Hacker: Paul Graham.

Where do you fit in between those two?

rtf• 18 years ago

I find this very amusing. Something about it implying the bold statement that no hacker is lesser than Paul Graham, and then audaciously posting it on Paul Graham's site.

curi• 18 years ago

he has 864 karma. wonder why he's trolling.

mynameishere2• 18 years ago

[Shrugs] Read it however you please, but "Lesser" is a modifier with a particular usage:

http://www.classicsunveiled.com/mythnet/html/lessgods.html

mechanical_fish• 18 years ago

You're somewhere in the middle.

If that's not apparent to you, then perhaps you need to find some better peers. :)

mooneater• 18 years ago

In the long run, the more important factor is whether you are gaining faster than your peers.

The younger ones often lack perspective and breadth and depth, the older ones often stop learning or dramatically slow down.

If you continually study timeless fundamentals, current technology, as well as industry trends, then over time you will naturally lead tend to lead the pack.

wallflower• 18 years ago

A wiser adult once convinced me that the entire theory of capitalism is based on overpaying you when you're young and underpaying you for the next 40 years...

When it comes to programming, I believe some of the most capable programmers outsource the programming to the junior programmers who are still all about the latest technology/acronym and haven't grokked the underlying fundamental patterns/architectures/commonalities/integration. By the time programmers gain enough experience to see that it's all the same, they might be starting to look at starting their true legacy, a family (not code that lives on)

nolanbrown23• 18 years ago

It's not reasonable to ask to be ranked. The best programmers are those who know there is an answer to every problem. The worst ones are the ones that care about salary, lines of code, and other meaningless crap.

Just remember, the CS field is broad and not every has the same knowledge.

dazzawazza• 18 years ago

Hmm, how long is a piece of string. It's a difficult question to answer. Why not ask your peers? If you trust them and they trust you they will be honest and you will learn. If you don't trust them leave.

For fun you can look at http://projecteuler.net/. Project Euler poses a series of problems for you to solve using a language of your choice. Of course you'll need to get your peers to do it as well but the different approaches to each problem can be very revealing. You can learn a lot about your abilities by reading the comments in the forums which are unlocked when you complete a task.

As a side note remember that the power of most programmers is unlocked within a team. Some 'lesser' programmers shine within a team and fail on their own. The reverse is true also. I know many excellent programmers that are near useless inside teams of non-programmers and a few that can't work with anyone.

What programming tasks should you be able to accomplish to be considered an "A" ranked Hacker?

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