>>10,12
esr:
hack
[very common]
1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.
2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed.
3. vt. To bear emotionally or physically. “I can't hack this heat!”
4. vt. To work on something (typically a program). In an immediate sense: “What are you doing?” “I'm hacking TECO.” In a general (time-extended) sense: “What do you do around here?” “I hack TECO.” More generally, “I hack foo” is roughly equivalent to “foo is my major interest (or project)”. “I hack solid-state physics.” See Hacking X for Y.
5. vt. To pull a prank on. See sense 2 and hacker (sense 5).
6. vi. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. “Whatcha up to?” “Oh, just hacking.”
7. n. Short for hacker.
8. See nethack.
9. [MIT] v. To explore the basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is usually performed at educational institutions) the Campus Police. This activity has been found to be eerily similar to playing adventure games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Zork. See also vadding.
Constructions on this term abound. They include happy hacking (a farewell), how's hacking? (a friendly greeting among hackers) and hack, hack (a fairly content-free but friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell). For more on this totipotent term see The Meaning of Hack. See also neat hack, real hack.
rms, too:
This letter is not meant for publication, although you can publish it if you wish. It is meant specifically for you, the editor, not the public.
I am a hacker. That is to say, I enjoy playing with computers — working with, learning about, and writing clever computer programs. I am not a cracker; I don't make a practice of breaking computer security.
There's nothing shameful about the hacking I do. But when I tell people I am a hacker, people think I'm admitting something naughty — because newspapers such as yours misuse the word “hackerâ€, giving the impression that it means “security breaker†and nothing else. You are giving hackers a bad name.
The saddest thing is that this problem is perpetuated deliberately. Your reporters know the difference between “hacker†and “security breakerâ€. They know how to make the distinction, but you don't let them! You insist on using “hacker†pejoratively. When reporters try to use another word, you change it. When reporters try to explain the other meanings, you cut it.
Of course, you have a reason. You say that readers have become used to your insulting usage of “hackerâ€, so that you cannot change it now. Well, you can't undo past mistakes today; but that is no excuse to repeat them tomorrow.
If I were what you call a “hackerâ€, at this point I would threaten to crack your computer and crash it. But I am a hacker, not a cracker. I don't do that kind of thing! I have enough computers to play with at home and at work; I don't need yours. Besides, it's not my way to respond to insults with violence. My response is this letter.
You owe hackers an apology; but more than that, you owe us ordinary respect.