The New Hacker's Dictionary

by Eric S. Raymond

This new edition of the hacker's own phenomenally successful lexicon includes more than 100 new entries and updates or revises 200 more.This new edition of the hacker's own phenomenally successful lexicon includes more than 100 new entries and updates or revises 200 more. Historically and etymologically richer than its predecessor, it supplies additional background on existing entries and clarifies the murky origins of several important jargon terms (overturning a few long-standing folk etymologies) while still retaining its high giggle value.Sample definitionhacker 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 is {cracker}.The term 'hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see {network, the} and {Internet address}). It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see {hacker ethic, the}).It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled {bogus}). See also {wannabee}.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Computers, Computer Science, Programming, Technology, Software

547 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1991

About the author

Eric S. Raymond is an observer-participant anthropologist in the Internet hacker culture. His research has helped explain the decentralized open-source model of software development that has proven so effective in the evolution of the Internet. Mr. Raymond is also a science fiction fan, a musician, an activist for the First and Second Amendments, and a martial artist with a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Diann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's dated, now, but an interesting reference especially when it was published.

[Thomas Warger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now quaint. A history of the computing mindset through dictionary-style pieces.

[Susan Paxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is fun reading - and the older the edition the better.

[Morten Torstensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice, historical reference book

[Nate Olson]

One of my favorite reference books ever

[Qmaury · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun to flip through, and even more fun to try and work these often archaic terms into conversation

[Steve Bowbrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous book - a really joyful alphabetical account of the special language of computing. The book is based on that anthropological wonder the Jargon File, a living dictionary of computing and tech language that was maintained by Computer Science students and professors at the big AI and CompSci faculties in the USA in the 1970s and 80s and is still online, although unmaintained.

This lovely 1996 MIT Press edition has detailed, funny and sarcastic glosses from editor (and programmer) Eric Raymond. He takes every definition - even for the most ephemeral of these hyper-niche terms - as seriously as the most pedantic OED lexicographer and there are detailed etymologies and citations.

An earlier edition of this book were a real inspiration to me in the early days of my exploration of computing, cyberculture, the Internet and all that. Like a lot of his generation Raymond turns out to be a bit of a loon - a libertarian and a gun nut, but this book is a work of art and a vital record of the wit and vitality of the communities that together produced the explosion of creativity in post-war computing and then the Internet.

I'm an undiagnosed nerd. If the category even existed in the new town I grew up in in the 1970s I didn't know it and I certainly never connected with any of the other members. The closest I came to a computer in that period was the exotic chatter of the teletype connected to a mainframe at Hatfield Poly that we heard through a locked door in the maths building at school. So I didn't meet a computer for another ten years, at Central London Poly where I was studying photography. So once I'd made my connection with computers it was probably already too late for me to properly internalise that way of thinking (like a musician who starts to learn the cello at 22 and has to acknowledge they'll never be more than competent).

But I began to soak up all the key texts of the computer revolution - the most important to me being Byte Magazine, Ted Nelson's various nutty desiderata and then, over time, the expanding library of O'Reilly textbooks and this book. All brought me an awareness of a complete - if sometimes kind of hermetic - subculture of brilliant, creative, undeferential, anarchic hackers. I've always wished I might actually have joined the gang but, although that wasn't possible (can't code!), I've got so much from their way of thinking and solving problems. This book is a kind of distilled expression of that worldview.

You can still buy the book but it hasn't been updated since this edition, so it's essentially a wonderful fossil - a snapshot of the language of the pre-web IT crowd.

[Angus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is technically a dictionary/encyclopedia I have read it cover to cover many times. Intensely interesting, funny and educational. This is the sort of nerd's paradise that we all wish we could find early in life and man am I glad I found this one early. Also includes all the "Crunchly" comics and several extended anecdotes from hacker culture. If you can find it, read it. (Or just get soft-copy of the interweb.)

[D351 · Rating 4 out of 5]

TNHD could definitely use a new edition... There's a lot of out of date info (and unnecessary character-assassination of Kevin Mitnik, in the bibliography) and a lot of current stuff that's in dire need of being added, great sample of the hacker culture right up until '96 though.

[Vince · Rating 3 out of 5]

The words themselves may not be used anymore, but we all need to remember where we come from. Hacker was a badge of honor long before the 1337 shit all over it.

[Justin Andrusk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure geek entertainment a long with some great historical insight. And yes, I did read it cover to cover along with appendixes.

[Jay Bhattacharya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sort of like Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary," but applied to hacker culture. Every entry is full of interesting stuff--an indispensable book.

[Ken Guest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would urge everyone to read this - especially appendix C!

[Fortyseven · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the classic, massive Jargon File document in book form! Tons of fun stories from the early, wild west days of IT.