Hacking

Revision History
Revision 1.34 07 Mar 2006 esr
Remove C# from the list of languages to be avoided now that Mono is out of beta.  
Revision 1.33 29 Nov 2005 esr
Add a pointer to Peter Norvig's excellent essay.  
Revision 1.32 29 Jun 2005 esr
Substantial new material on not solving problems twice. Answer a FAQ on hacking and open-source programming. The three questions that reveal if you are already a hacker.  
Revision 1.31 22 Mar 2005 esr
Added a link to another Paul Graham essay, and advice on how to pick a first project. More translation-link updates.  
Revision 1.30 2 Mar 2005 esr
Added and updated many translation links.  

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Table of Contents

Why This Document?
What Is a Hacker?
The Hacker Attitude
1. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved.
2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice.
3. Boredom and drudgery are evil.
4. Freedom is good.
5. Attitude is no substitute for competence.
Basic Hacking Skills
1. Learn how to program.
2. Get one of the open-source Unixes and learn to use and run it.
3. Learn how to use the World Wide Web and write HTML.
4. If you don't have functional English, learn it.
Status in the Hacker Culture
1. Write open-source software
2. Help test and debug open-source software
3. Publish useful information
4. Help keep the infrastructure working
5. Serve the hacker culture itself
The Hacker/Nerd Connection
Points For Style
Other Resources
Frequently Asked Questions

Why This Document?
As editor of the Jargon File and author of a few other well-known documents of similar nature, I often get email requests from enthusiastic network newbies asking (in effect) "how can I learn to be a wizardly hacker?". Back in 1996 I noticed that there didn't seem to be any other FAQs or web documents that addressed this vital question, so I started this one. A lot of hackers now consider it definitive,... [continues]

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