The hacker community (the set of people who would describe themselves as hackers, or who would be described by others as hackers) falls into at least four partially overlapping categories. Sometimes alternate terms such as "cracker" are used in an attempt to more exactly distinguish which category of hacker is
The positive usage of hacker is one who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to write software rapidly and expertly. This type of hacker is well-respected (although the term still carries some of the meaning of hack), and is capable of developing programs without adequate planning or where pre-planning is difficult or impossible to acheive. This zugzwang gives freedom and the ability to be creative against methodical careful progress. At their best, hackers can be very productive. The technical downside of hacker productivity is often in maintainability, documentation, and completion. Very talented hackers may become bored with a project once they have figured out all of the hard parts, and be unwilling to finish off the "details". This attitude can cause friction in environments where other programmers are expected to pick up the half finished work, decipher the structures and ideas, and bullet-proof the code. In other cases, where a hacker is willing to maintain their own code, a company may be unable to find anyone else who is capable or willing to dig through code to maintain the program if the original programmer moves on to a new job.
Additionally, there is sometimes a social downside associated with hacking. The stereotype of a hacker as having gained technical ability at a cost in social ability may have an uncomfortable amount of factual foundation in many individuals. While not universal, nor even restricted to hackers, the difficulty in relating to other individuals and often abrasive personalities of some hackers makes some of them difficult to work with or to organize into teams; Richard Stallman (RMS) is a good example of this. Some within the hacker community have speculated that some mild form of autism might be involved in the case of some hackers. In one more pronounced example of such, Bram Cohen, developer of BitTorrent, has been self-diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome. However, no formal studies of autistic tendencies in hackers have been done. However this is a stereotype that does not always fit. Many hackers thrive on social interaction to create a "balance" in their lives, between human interaction and computer interaction. These types of hackers also generally have some form of drug dependancy which facilitates their desire to maximize sleep (through use of depressants such as alcohol) or stay awake for long hours (through the use of caffeine)
Main article: Hacker (computer security)
A hacker is one who is able to exploit systems or gains unauthorized access through clever tactics and detailed knowledge, that is, through the use of a hack. Malicious hackers are often called black hat hackers, but it is more appropriate to call them crackers (from criminal hacker) as this is a term which distinguishes the exploitation of security weaknesses from hacking in general. The opposite of a black hat is a white hat, ethical hackers who evaluate the security of systems or networks to help the owners by making them aware of security flaws or performing some other altruistic activity. Other hackers often viewed negatively include phreakers and software crackers.
Hardware hacker
Another type of hacker is one who creates novel hardware modifications. At the most basic end of this spectrum are those who make frequent changes to the hardware in their computers using standard components, or make semi-cosmetic themed modifications to the appearance of the machine. This type of Hacker modifes his/her computer for performance needs and/or attractiveness. These changes often include adding memory, storage or LEDs and cold cathode tubes for light effects. These people often show off their talents in contests, and many enjoy LAN parties. At the more advanced end of the hardware hackers are those who modify hardware (not limited to computers) to expand capabilities; this group blurs into the culture of hobbyist inventors and professional electronics engineering. An example of such modification includes the addition of TCP/IP Internet capabilities to a number of vending machines and coffee makers during the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Hackers who have the ability to write circuit-level code, device drivers, firmware, low-level networking, (and even more impressively, using these techniques to make devices do things outside of their spec sheets), are typically in very high regard among hacker communities. This is primarily due to the difficulty and enormous complexity of this type of work, and the electrical engineering knowledge required to do so. Such hackers are rare, and almost always considered to be wizards or gurus of a very high degree.
There are theoretical types of hackers who are considered to possess an atypical level of skill beyond that of other meanings of the positive form of "hacker", which include the Guru and the Wizard.
In some portions of the computer community, a Wizard is one who can do anything a hacker can, but elegantly; while a Guru not only can do so elegantly, but instruct those who do not know how. In other portions, a Guru is one with a very broad degree of expertise, while a Wizard is expert in a very narrow field, distinctions seemingly more at home in a RPG world, and not often heard in actual conversation.
|
|
|
|