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From: dmt@mtunb.ATT.COM (Dave Tutelman)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Hackers, origin of term
Keywords: hacker
Message-ID: <1471@mtunb.ATT.COM>
Date: 18 Apr 89 16:41:45 GMT
References: <2115NU113738@NDSUVM1> <98299@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <2236@wa4mei.UUCP> <3299@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Reply-To: dmt@mtunb.UUCP (Dave Tutelman)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs - Middletown, NJ
Lines: 24

In article <3299@ddsw1.MCS.COM> benfeen@ddsw1.UUCP (Ben Feen) writes:
>By original definition, a hacker is a person who takes a piece of
>doggie-dirties program and changes it.  There are also electronics
>hackers (I am one - I fixed a radio by dragging a wrench across the connect-
>tions until it worked, then soldered the connections together.)
>There are hackers in every field where makeshift fixes can be done.
	Hardly the "original" definition.  In fact, that's one I never
	heard.  A discussion of the REAL origin seems to take place
	annually on the net.  While there's some variation,  those
	with long memories know the term as a compliment.

>  My dad forbid me from downloading until I showed him 
>news.important articles that explained it.
	Sorry, Ben, but if your dad could forbid you from doing anything
	while news.important was in existence (or even popular use of
	the term "download"), you weren't even born when "hacker"
	originated.  (I encountered it in the early-mid '60s.)

+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|    Dave Tutelman						|
|    Physical - AT&T Bell Labs  -  Middletown, NJ		|
|    Logical -  ...att!mtunb!dmt				|
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