First recorded usage of “hacker” (2008) | Hacker News Reader

First recorded usage of “hacker” (2008)

manybutfinite.com

55 pointslegrande18 comments

As people in the subculture already know, the "the first known recorded usage of the word “hacker” in the tech sense" (to quote from the OP) was not this one, but the Tech Model Railroad Club dictionary of 1959, which not only used the word but defined it [1]:

  HACK: 1) something done without constructive end; 2) a project undertaken on bad self-advice; 3) an entropy booster; 4) to produce or attempt to produce, a hack.

I emailed Shapiro a few years ago and he conceded not only that the TMRC reference was earlier, but more importantly, that he was "probably wrong about 'hacker' originally having malicious connotations" [2]. Since he was the originator of the malicious-origin theory, or at least its most authoritative proponent (see [3] for an old example), that pretty much clears things up.

[1] http://www.gricer.com/tmrc/dictionary1959.html

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19416623

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=152627

Few people remember TMRC, or that model railroading it is pretty much the genesis of modern electronic computing. Today, model railroads are considered baby toys by many computer enthusiasts, even though doing a complicated layout correctly is more technically challenging than what 90% of HN people do for a day job.

I'm old enough that I've seen the popular meaning of "hacker" flip from good to evil and back a number of times.

When I was first introduced to it, it was mischievous, not evil. In the 70's I remember it being applied to people who would take other people's public domain programs, put their own names on them, and sell them at user group meetings and in the small ads in the back of computer magazines.

By the 80's, it was applied to creative youngsters doing clever things with home computers.

I'm not sure where it is today.

> model railroading it is pretty much the genesis of modern electronic computing

I didn't know this! Is there anything I can read about the relationship between model railroading and the genesis of modern computers?

Edit: found it in other comments: Hackers by Levy.

I feel that the word has fallen out of favor due to its usage in media. It means someone is either an operative for a foreign government, or Nedry from Jurassic Park. Neither is particularly flattering.

I'm not sure what would term replaces the positive form of 'hacking' now. Hobbyist programming? Recreational programmimg? Do side projects mirroed on GitHub count as a hack?

I'm struggling to see the connection between this definition and the modern day non-black hat one. If anything, it's completely the opposite. "1)" above sounds more related to yak shaving.

A hack on the other hand, far from being "without constructive end", based on "bad self-advice", or causing chaos ("entropy"), has a definite constructive end-goal, and is achieved through the clever application of knowledge, tools or technology to achieve an end result for which these where not originally intended.

Sure, it could be considered a shortcut, or a temporary solution, but still one with a definite goal in mind.

I note the commentary in [1] which seems to reframe the term to fit a more recent definition that that in the original TMRC definition.

Good point. The original definition doesn't stand on its own; it's obviously humorous and understanding the wider meaning requires putting it in the context of the subculture it came out of. What's clear though is that it wasn't solely, or primarily, about breaking into insecure systems for malicious purposes.

Steven Levy gave a lot of the context in Hackers:

The core members hung out at the club for hours; constantly improving The System, arguing about what could be done next, developing a jargon of their own that seemed incomprehensible to outsiders who might chance on these teen-aged fanatics, with their checked short-sleeve shirts, pencils in their pockets, chino pants, and, always, a bottle of Coca-Cola by their side. (TMRC purchased its own Coke machine for the then forbidding sum of $165; at a tariff of five cents a bottle, the outlay was replaced in three months; to facilitate sales, Saunders built a change machine for Coke buyers that was still in use a decade later.) When a piece of equipment wasn't working, it was "losing"; when a piece of equipment was ruined, it was "munged" (Mash Until No Good); the two desks in the comer of the room were not called the office, but the "orifice"; one who insisted on studying for courses was a "tool"; garbage was called "cruft"; and a project undertaken or a product built not solely to fulfill some constructive goal, but with some wild pleasure taken in mere involvement, was called a "hack."

This latter term may have been suggested by ancient MIT lingo the word "hack" had long been used to describe the elaborate college pranks that MIT students would regularly devise, such as covering the dome that overlooked the campus with reflecting foil. But as the TMRC people used the word, there was serious respect implied. While someone might call a clever connection between relays a "mere hack," it would be understood that, to qualify as a hack, the feat must be imbued with innovation, style, and technical virtuosity. Even though one might self- deprecatingly say he was "hacking away at The System" (much as an axe-wielder hacks at logs), the artistry with which one hacked was recognized to be considerable.

That wasn't an academic book though, so he didn't give citations for things like "the word 'hack' had long been used [etc.]"

Kind of surprised he missed this considering it's in one of the best books about this history. https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Steven-Le...

It doesn't contain textual citations (at least my copy doesn't), so I suppose he couldn't use it.

Past related threads. I think there have been others, and it would be great if anybody found them so we could have a complete list.

First Recorded Usage of “Hacker” (2008) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19415484 - March 2019 (18 comments)

First Recorded Usage of "Hacker" (2008) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7795673 - May 2014 (8 comments)

First Recorded Usage of word "Hacker" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2170897 - Feb 2011 (1 comment)

First recorded usage of “Hacker” from MIT paper in 1963 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=324032 - Oct 2008 (3 comments)

First Recorded Usage of "Hacker" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=289215 - Aug 2008 (12 comments)

The Orignal Hackers were Black Hats. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=152565 - April 2008 (9 comments)

The oldest MIT hack I just looked up online is dates 1926. It means an elaborate practical joke. Often it is redecorating some part of MIT campus in a clever way. Occasionally it extends to rivals like Harvard and CalTech. I perpetrated a few in my day.

Here's an image of one of my favorite pre-WW2 hacks (1936):

https://mitadmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/car_2.j...

They later set the car on fire.

There's a book called Nightwork from MIT Press that sort of covers the history of hacks and related. (I think I have a couple photos in the original edition and I was involved in a fairly minor one.)

My dad grew up in Boston in the 50s. The word for auto tuners and hotrodders back then was "hacker". Jay Leno and Tom and Ray Magliozzi are probably the most famous hackers from that time. Maybe there was a general sense of "hacking" in the dialect that predated the hotrodding scene, but if not it seems like a fairly natural extension of the idea.

The term "Hacker" dates from way before the world of computer enthusiasts.

Back in the day, electronic and radio builders were known as "hackers". There was even a well advertised electronics component shop called "Hardware Hackers".

It always saddened me that the term hacker was hijacked by the sensationalist media to refer to an antisocial element.

No link because people who like to read about hackers might be offended? Ok

Here you go, generally regarded as the first hacker ever arrested[1], though the preferred term is phreak, I think phreaks are technically a subset of hackers.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Draper

Draper was definitely not first hacker ever arrested, but perhaps "first hacker sentenced to prison." (Ralph Barclay, inventor of the blue box used for phone phreaking, was arrested in 1961 or so, almost a decade before Draper came on scene. When I interviewed him I said, "You were the first!" He laughed and responded, "Well, first to get caught, maybe.") http://explodingthephone.com/docs/dbx0575.pdf or more generally http://explodingthephone.com/search.php?q=barclay&sort=relev...

What do you mean by “no link”?

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