How To Become A Hacker

http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

by HugoMelo • 14 years ago

33 15 14 years ago

richo• 14 years ago

Epic karma cashgrab is epic.

I don't think this article really has a lot of relevance, the ESR style of hacker doesn't have all that much in common with this community tbh, and those that do gravitate in that direction have probably already seen this.

Or I'm just a grumpy ass at christmas. Could go either way.

unimpressive2• 14 years ago

You just added "karma cashgrab" to my lexicon.

I think that the HN crowd has more of a Silicon Valley business flavor to it. (As one might expect from a site sponsored by YC.) At the same time, the "Open source/Free Software/Unix Hacker" has a lot of overlap.

My issue with this article isn't its subject matter, but that it's written by ESR.

(Though in ESR's defense, I think it was through reading one of his articles or blog posts that I discovered the PG essays.)

tjr• 14 years ago

Did you read the first paragraph? If I were in ESR's position as described, I probably would have written something like this too.

anthonyb2• 14 years ago

Why save it just for christmas? ;)

ESR telling people how to be hackers is pretty galling when you consider what a massive pile of bugs it is/was. For my money, getmail (http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/) is far better value.

billsix• 14 years ago

> ESR telling people how to be hackers is pretty galling when you consider what a massive pile of bugs it is/was

What is "it"? Fetchmail?

jff• 14 years ago

Those who can't do, evangelize.

nvr219• 14 years ago

I'm sorry but esr is an insufferable asshole loser[1].

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG2MnhrrY7s

lbcadden3• 14 years ago

No reason to link this unless it has been updated.

gonzo• 14 years ago

and probably not even then.

jiggy2011• 14 years ago

"Don't call yourself a ‘cyberpunk’, and don't waste your time on anybody who does."

I don't think I've ever come across a "cyberpunk" , is this some long dead internet subculture?

P.S , can somebody repost "sex tips for geeks" some karma in there for sure.

unimpressive2• 14 years ago

I use 20 mana to cast revive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer

jambo222• 14 years ago

The argument against Java as a starting language (libraries doing too much for you) is equally applicable to any high level language. I don't see how this is unique to Java.

stiff• 14 years ago

There are so many resources related to this topic that are so much better:

http://norvig.com/21-days.html

http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Sep-06.html

http://www.paulgraham.com/hamming.html

http://www.paulgraham.com/college.html

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

And that's just the start...

10098• 14 years ago

This brings back some memories :)

Back when I was in high school, I had no internet connection at home, so I had to go to "internet cafes", download some interesting stuff on a 1.44 mb floppy and read it at home. That's when I came across this article. It really motivated me back then.

How To Become A Hacker

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