Hacker: Encyclopedia II - Hacker - Categories of hacker

Hacker - Categories of hacker

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 people in these categories are called a different name, such as "cracker" instead of hacker.

Hacker - Hacker: Highly skilled programmer

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, developing programs without adequate planning. 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 obsessive/compulsive nature, 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, an example is Richard Stallman (RMS). 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 diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome. However, no formal studies of autistic tendencies in hackers have been done.

Hacker - Hacker: Computer and network security

hacker is one who exploits systems or gains unauthorized access through clever tactics and detailed knowledge, that is, through the use of a hack. However, because most hacks do not exploit systems or gain unauthorized access, most people who have enough technical skill to produce clever hacks consider the use of the word hacker in this sense to be bigotry. Malicious hackers in this sense 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 term of black hat is white hat, are ethical hackers those who attempt to break into systems or networks in order to help the owners of the system by making them aware of security flaws, or to perform some other altruistic activity. Other hackers often viewed negatively include phreakers and software crackers.

Hacker - Hacker: Hardware modifier

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.

Hacker - Hacker stereotypes

There are theoretical types of hackers who are considered to posses 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Categories of hacker", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki