Hacker (hobbyist)
In home and hobby circles, a hacker is a person who enjoys exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness. They may also heavily modify software or hardware of their own computer system. It includes building, rebuilding, modifying, and creating software (software cracking, demo scene), electronic hardware (hardware hacking, modding), or anything else, either to make it better or faster or to give it added features or to make it do something it was never intended to do. Hobby home computer hacking originated around the MITS Altair, yet the spirit of hacking has been embodied in real projects since the advent of simple tools.
Read more about Hacker (hobbyist): Hardware Modifier, Hacker Artists
Famous quotes containing the word hacker:
“The Hacker Ethic: Access to computers—and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works—should be unlimited and total.
Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!
All information should be free.
Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.
You can create art and beauty on a computer.
Computers can change your life for the better.”
—Steven Levy, U.S. writer. Hackers, ch. 2, “The Hacker Ethic,” pp. 27-33, Anchor Press, Doubleday (1984)