Talk:Hack (technology)

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I'm not really sold on the temporal organization of the meanings; if someone wants to do it by order of most common use, that would be fine with me. I did it in temporal order because it made it less twisted and duplicative to explain the etymology. One advantage of temporal order is that we don't have to re-do the article over time, and the incidence of various meanings changes. Noel (talk) 22:11, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Sigh, according to TMRC, "Hacking" (as well as "Hack" and "Hacker") were in the TMRC dictionary as of the late 1950s. So it may be that it spread to the rest of MIT from there, or perhaps it was already widespread at MIT in the 1950s. Somone is going to have to do some research to figure this one out. There's also a connection with ham radio to sort out, but as MIT people were into ham radio, maybe it went the other way. Still, this is a lot better than it was. Noel (talk) 22:17, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I agree Noel. However, I'm not going to do research. I believe I'm already correct. If MIT wants to take credit, then take credit for creating the word hack and making everyone want to be a hacker and letting in some bad crackers. Blah on MIT. --Cyberman 00:39, July 14, 2005 (UTC)

I coined a term "URL hacking" that's gotten moderately wide propagation: Google search My intro Philip Greenspun explains the current hacking scandal at Harvard Business School as url-hacking, though he doesn't use that term: PhilG weblog entry --robotwisdom 23:50, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The term was in independent use at Reed College in the 1960s. In those days, the emphasis was on very small programs, because of the small memory available, so the best solutions were elegant. People who wrote long programs to do simple things were called "hacks" after the literary usage: people who churned out miles of prose without thinking, because they were paid by the word. This usage was, of course, derogatory, so hacks, and later, hackers, were held in disrepute. This seems to me to be the more natural source for the current meaning, since commonly "hacking" is held in disrepute, even by those who do it. Andrew 20:22, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

I would have to object to the idea that "hacking" is held in disrepute by those who do it. The words hack and hacking can absolutely be used to imply both positive and negative things. One would probably not proudly describe a large scale program or other kind of system as a hack. But a small program or a bright idea that is a small part of something bigger could very well be described as a hack and still be held in high regard. Hacking is also seen by hackers as one of the best ways to learning new things and for that reason alone seen as a Good Thing. Bergsten 23:16, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Split 2 Hack vs Crack 3 History is wrong 4 MIT image

[edit] Split

I propose the "practical joke" meaning of "hack" be split off to Hack (practical joke), currently a redir with about 5 links to it. What do other people think? --Unforgettableid | talk to me 21:14, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hack vs Crack

This article seems to be about cracking not hacking.

Hacking is a much older term meaning to use things for purposes they were not originaly designed for. For example putting a matchbook under your table to stop it from wobbling is a hack.

To get a program to work on windows that was meant for linux is a hack. To unlock features in a game that were not in the original design is a hack.

Perhaps this should be changed to a Crack (technology slang) article. Or perhaps I am wrong about this. HighInBC 18:44, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, the difference between "hacking" and "cracking" is an arbitrary one set by those who would rather have their own ideas left unmuddied by those who trek in darker waters. The fact is that many people think they fit the "true" hacker bill and that others are fakes who should go by a different name. ProfMoriarty 02:29, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

The meanings of cracking and hacking intersect (e.g. at "ingenuously bypass access control").And while some subsume scriptkiddies etc. under hacking, no one claims that "using things for purposes they were not originally designed for" should be called cracking. So at most, cracking is a subset of hacking. Which I'd prefer to be expressed more clearly in this article, but I can't think of a good way to put it right now, so maybe someone else finds a way... 134.130.4.46 20:23, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History is wrong

Take a look through:

• Levy, Steven (1984). Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Penguin. 

The origin of the term comes from MIT, where it meant something like "a clever solution to a problem," during the 1950s. The prank usage was much later. So what we have in this article is an accurate account of that later usage, but not the origins. -Harmil 20:20, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] MIT image

There is no need to have the image of the dome with the firetruck on it. It looks good on the MIT page but it has no relevance on the hacking page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.39.90.115 (talk) 19:24, 25 February 2008 (UTC)