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"The web is under attack from hackers. RescueTheWeb.org is working to reduce their chances of success."

I take issue with their ignorance toward the difference between a hacker and a cracker. (links to Eric Raymond's "The Jargon File")

"The web is under attack from hackers. RescueTheWeb.org is working to reduce their chances of success."

I take issue with their ignorance toward the difference between a hacker and a cracker. (links to Eric Raymond's "The Jargon File")

An excellent early (ok, old) discussion of "hacker" english is in the Jargon File, aka The New Hacker's Dictionary. In particular, read chapter 5, "Hacker Writing Style". (And note that I follow said style, including aspects such as not pulling punctuation into quotes.)

You should show your friend the Story of Mel.

Optimization is expensive. It takes programmer time ( = money). Worse yet, optimized programs will almost always be harder to maintain, and buggier. There are all sorts of hidden costs that come in. How do you measure the cost of a dozen segfaults a week? I don't know, but it's pretty steep!

In the future, maintainability, portability, and ease of development will be more important than performance. Hardware will make up for the deficiencies of programmers.

I know it's sad, but the days of Mel are over.

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Wait hold on... let me look up hacker...

(http://www.jargon.8hz.com/jargon_23.html#SEC30)
hacker /n./

[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.

Now I know we all know what the term means... but let's consider this... What is hacking at one of it's most basic terms. EDUCATION! When you hack something u're learning about it. So by default when trying to stifle hackers u're also stifiling professors, students, engineers, ah hell... just about anyone interested in maning something better!

Ya I agree... they are going to claim big huge losses... OH MY! My problem is PROVE IT!

When mp3s were first available for download, what did I do... I downloaded... and then I purchased more CD's! my CD collection exploded when I first started to download stuff... why, I wanted to hear the rest of what they have. In other words, they made money from my downloading MP3s! What made me stop buying CD's... lack of money and Shoutcast... It had exactly the music I wanted, which normaly is only found on vynl.

OTOH does mean On The Other Hand.

Next time just check the jargon file.

Because, according to the definition, one meaning of "hack" is a "prank" or practical joke, performed using technical abilities. Since most acts of cracking a system are (historicaly) done as pranks (defacing a web page, for example), and it requires techinical abilities (even for "script kiddies"), these acts can be called "hacks".

Therefore, a person that performs "hacks" is a "hacker". QED.

List of Jargon Resources Mirror Sites USA:

• http://www.akrotech.com/~darkstar/jargon
• http://memes.org/jargon
• http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/jargon/
• http://www.mindspring.com/~li mbert/hacking/jargon.htm
• http://www.iscvt.org/jargon/jargon.html
• http://www.babcom.com/jargon/index.html
• http://www.hackboy.com/jargon
• http://www.pulhas.org/
• http://www2.netdoor.com/~lhand
• http://avatar.deva.net/
• http://www.blee.net/jargon
• http://www.fortuneci ty.com/skyscraper/jolt/15/jargonindex.html
• http://www.jargon.8hz.com/
• http://culture.0wnz-u.org/
• http://www.houseofhack.com/jargon
• http://jollyrogers.com/jargon/
• http://handel.math.psu.edu/jargon

• http://celestrion.totalaccess.net/do cs/jargon/
• http://www.pir.net/pir/jargon/
• http://www.technozen.com/tetsuo/jargon/
• http://ude.org/jargon
• http://web.chad.org/usr/doc/jargon-file/

• http://karnak.nmc.siu.edu/jargon/

Australia:

• http://ecco.bsee.swin.edu.au/text/jargon/

• http://ecco.bsee.swin.edu.au/text/jargon

Czechoslovakia: ttp://www.instinct.org/texts/jargon-file/

Finland: http://zone.pspt.fi/jargon/

Germany:

• http://www.ude.org/jargon
• http://www.ghks.de/computer/jargon/
• http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~rene/jargo n/
• http://hex.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jargon/
• http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de /~bergt/jargon

Gret Britain: http://jargon.strugglers.net

Greece: http://www.hack.gr/jargon

Italy: http://beatles.cselt.stet.it/mirrors/jargon

Japan: http://www.vacia.is.tohoku.ac.jp/jargon/

Norway: http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/misc/jargon/ Poland: http://www.uci.agh.edu.pl/jargon/

Spain: http://www.undersec.com/jargon

Sweden: http://ftp.sunet.se/jargon/

U.K.:

• http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/admin/jargon/
• http://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/g/jargon/