smr’s blog

On the question “How to think like a hacker ?” Michal Zalewski answers

I don’t think that (”good”) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.

and slashdot has a discussion going on it - Everyone Is A Hacker In Training.^[1]

The word hacker is already discussed widely on internet and many great hackers have given various views on hackers and hacking. I will try to add my perception to it.

Before I start, lets resolve the confusion between Hacker and Cracker. Cracker means a person who breakes into another person/business’s computer unauthorized, and is not discussed in this article. And by Hacker I don’t only mean “Computer Hacker”, I will talk about hacker in general, called “Reality Hacker“. So the word Hacker will mean Reality Hacker in this article.

Hacker is defined as “a person who makes things work beyond perceived limits through their own skills”.

I will cut short this definition to “A person who makes things work”. It need not be “beyond perceived limits” and one need not have any special skills to be a hacker. Making a toilet flush work (while its not a job) is hacking. Though its no big thing for a plumber, but when someone analyze this problem, and fix it, that is called hacking. So while you say “beyond perceived limits”, the reference frame is important. And skills are not really very important. Skills might help, but skills cannot stop anyone from being a hacker.

Even “make things work” are not the best words to define a hacker, only the “willingness to make things work, and passionately working toward a solution” is sufficient to qualify as a hacker. Being able to make it work or not will tell whether one is a “successful hacker” or not.

What makes someone a hacker is his attitude. Give him a problem, and he’ll love to get his hands dirty on it. A hacker does not believe that a problem cannot be solved until he tries it himself. This attitude makes him a hacker.

Another important thing, that adds value to hacking is Creativity. Creativity controls how well does the hacker uses the tools available to him, to find the solution, and how much nice and creative his solution is. Thus his attitude makes him a hacker, and creativity makes him a good hacker.

We also call someone “Great Hacker”. That is how the hackers society value another hacker after he has done major achievements in hacking.

In ESR’s words “you’re not a hacker until somebody else calls you one”. True to a great extent. But depends on when does “somebody else” define a hacker. Generally people think that hacking is doing something very great, “beyond perceived limits”. In such a case people will not be able to recognize ‘hackers attitude’

Now lets come to the question - “How to think like a hacker ?”
As a hacker is made up of ‘hacking attitude’ and creativity. So the question can be modified to “How to get the hacking attitude and How to think creative” ? Well.. attitude and creativity.. they are more like inherit properties. One cannot learn attitude and creativity. He either has it or he doesnt. It is difficult to become a hacker if someone inherently is not. As difficult as adopting a new attitude.

Though Hacking is defined as “making things work”, the “problem” and the “solution” are not the only important concerns of hacking. What happens in between is more important. Which involves understanding the system (where the problem comes from). And many times a hacker goes to the finest details of the system. He needs to. This is important to provide good solutions. Ability to understand and comprehend a (any) system is basic skill required for hacking. For this reason Hacker is also defined as “A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system”.

A hacker doesnt need anyone to give him a problem. He has a ability to find whats missing or not working properly in a system, and knows how can he add value to it. A hacker cannot stay away from hacking. In the smallest scope also he will find a way to show his hacking skills.

All that hacking costs is time. Sometimes lots of, especially when the system is complex and unfamiliar. And in turn the hacker’s hunger for hacking is fulfilled. Satisfaction of successful hacking is an addon to that.

- smr

In making : my 10 best hackings

Related -
* How To Become A Hacker - by ESR
* Hacker Manifesto : “Hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, because they are frustrated and bored in school”.

^[1] Thats what triggered me to write this article. And writing this article took the highest time i’ve given to any article so far.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 1st, 2005 at 5:05 am and is filed under personal, philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.