Hackers 129
| Hackers | |
| author | Steven Levy |
| pages | 455 |
| publisher | Anchor Press / Doubleday |
| rating | 8.5 |
| reviewer | topeka |
| ISBN | 0-385-19195-2 |
| summary | A fast-paced, readable history of the early days of hacking, seen through the eyes of the participants. |
After reading a reference to Steven Levy for the nth time on Slashdot, or hearing him discussed at a LUG meeting, I decided it was time to find a copy of his book and see what it was all about. Slashdot has made a few statements over the past months in effect trying to educate those new to hacking. One way to do this is to spread the rich history of the hacker ethic. There are certain books that have made their mark among hackers over the years, and I think Steven Levy's, Hackers, is near the top of that list. For that reason, I thought it would be useful to reexamine a book that was first published 16 years ago and hopefully convince some people to go find a copy and read it.
Getting the Book
The first challenge to reviewing this book was finding a copy. It was first printed in 1984, and as far as I know it ran its final printing in 1994. Not having a used bookstore nearby, I decided the Net was the best choice. So I set out looking it up on the usual Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites. Amazon suggested checking back soon, but seeing as the last printing was six years ago I wasn't holding my breath, plus the fact that Amazon's "defensive" patents make me leery of giving them my business. Similarly, B&N did not have the book either, but they did have several copies listed in their network of rare and used book affiliates. But the cheapest version of the Hackers I could find was over $60. So, the next step was to search Yahoo, but after trying a dozen or so sites, I had no luck. All of them seemed to carry an unrelated subset of the subject I wanted: Hacking. That's when I stumbled on Abebooks.com. This site is one of my favorite discoveries of the year. This site brings together over 6,000 local bookstores and puts their catalogs online. Best yet, the site does not mark the books up any higher than they are in the local shop. And, they give you the option of buying through Abebooks, or going directly to the local site by Internet or phone to purchase. Here I happened to find several different copies of this book, many of them the same entries as I found on the B&N site. The great part though, is that the version from B&N for $60 was selling directly from the shop (through Abebooks) for $35! So, I bought it. Of course, there is always the public library.
SynopsisLevy's narrative talks about three different generations of hackers: the Orthodox Hackers, the Hardware Hackers, and the Game Hackers. The story starts in the very late 1950's at MIT -- not at the console of a computer, but in the cave-like home of the miniature models of the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC). The MIT professor who shepherded the TMRC, and hence the first hackers, had connections to the phone industry (which of course had the best electronics of the day). These Hackers used them to build an incredible railroad model. Work was affected however, when the hackers discovered a punch card machine in the basement of building 9. Levy describes in intricate detail the first hackers' interaction with first the punch card machine and then, their TX-0 and to the Hacker's paradise, the PDP-6.
Along with those first hackers, Levy describes the bureaucracy that they hate, and its incarnation at MIT, the IBM "Hulking Giants."
From MIT, Levy branches out in his exploration of the early hackers to the West Coast and the Stanford AI lab. He discusses in depth how the movements in the 60's affected the hackers, and how some of them shared their populist views by taking hacking to the streets to support the ideas of free speech and access to information. Levy discusses the debate that raged over whether or not hacking for MIT was The Right Thing, considering almost all of their funding came from ARPA (which was a part of the DoD).
This eventually leads into the second generation of hackers, the Hardware Hacker s. These individuals were, unlike the MIT and Stanford Hackers, decentralized, with no academic structure to support their activities. The second generation of hackers cared less about software but instead, fought for the idea that computers should be liberated from the massive industry bureaucracies, led by IBM, the maker of the Hulking Gi ants. They formed computing clubs which eventually fostered the introduction of kit computers. Levy talks in depth about the Homebrew Computer Club and its rivals. He entitled an entire chapter, "WOZ." Levy diagrams the introduction of the Altair, to the building of the Sol, the TRS-80 and finally the Apple II.
The Apple II sets the stage for the third generation, the Game Hackers. These were anyone who could write software for the meager processors in the Apple II and the Atari 800, the vast majority of which were games. Levy tells the story of the game company Sierra On-Line and its humble beginnings. And, he tells the story of the game hackers, who were the first in large numbers to become wealthy beyond their beliefs (spurred by 30% game royalties.)
The narrative is not all happy either. Levy discusses the controversy Bill Gates caused when he found out that hackers were "stealing" his BASIC interpreter for the Altair. He also talks about the chaotic split that occurred between the original Game hackers and the game publishers as the industry matured and its new bureaucracy cut out hackers, no longer giving them authorship credit for games and slashing their royalty shares. Finally, Levy discusses the tragic split of the MIT Orthodox Hackers as the first LISP machines went into production.
The final chapter is entitled "The Last of the True Hackers" and tells the story of a young MIT hacker named Richard Stallman who liked to be referred to by his initials (RMS) because it symbolized his login name.
Though the discussion of the last 40 years worth of computers is in depth, Levy's is a story of people, and how their interaction with machines created a new kind of ethic. Levy defines and explains what exactly The Right Thing is, and why it was so important to the hackers. He discusses all of the computers in terms of the people who us ed them. From the MIT Hackers Greenblatt and Gosper to the Berkeley street Hacker Felsenstein to master of Atari 800 assembly language John Harris to Apple Computer's Steve Wozniac, Levy's narrative runs deep into the Hacker ethic within these individuals and what they did for the fledgling computer industry.
Levy's book chooses to follow the course that the Hackers made. In fact, the word "UNIX" is mentioned exactly one time in the entire book, on page 434. The invention of UNIX is not covered, and the only languages Levy mentions are: assembly, LISP and BASIC. There is also no mention of the development of ARPAnet, it just sort of appears when the hackers start to utilize it. This is truly a story of people and not simply a history of the Computer "Industry."
ConclusionThe most important reason to find a copy of this book, though, is to read with the now 15 years of hindsight. It is truly amazing to see the concepts Levy helped define take form and continue to prove themselves true. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested "where it all came from," especially to those who have only stumbled upon hacking in the past few years. I wonder now if Levy is still around, and if so, whether he has updated his copy of Hackers to include the forth generation of hackers, the GNU/Linux Hackers.
Who moderated this up? (Score:1)
True hacker - my dad (Score:1)
Theres lots of cool stories about checking memory with a volt meter (gotta love that magnetic core) or debugging programs from a hex core dump over the phone!
But my personal favorite is how they had a machine which didn't have enough IO instructions to run all the tape machines they had connected up to it... so after some thought they realised that they never used any floating point operations on that system so they replaced that CPU board with one with an interface to an extra tape drive and then drove it with the replaced instruction set.
About six months later they had a problem on that system and got in a tech from the vendors company - this guy spent a week going absolutely nuts as to why the code would occasionally do a random floating point operation and discard the code before anyone thought to mention the mod...
*sigh* sometimes I think they must have had a lot more fun back then.
Posted anonymously because I just don't want to risk that there is someone in the UK MOD reading this without a sense of humor - just not worth the hassle.
Saw the movie instead. (Score:1)
Even got the CD. Have the Hackers II CD too, hope the movie is as kewell as the music.
I am not a kid at all and I just like to stay in touch with the younger set. They are our future! On my AOL account I try to talk to as many young people as possible in the chatrooms.
Boy, those kids sure are jokers, they have told me all sorts of things that really messed up my computer, but all in good fun I am sure. That's what hacking is all about, right?
I still have not figured out what this "Back Oriface" program does. Installed it when a nice young girl sent it to me and said it was k-rad. Go figure.
Since nobody is talking about the movie, maybe you should try to find a copy. It sounds like the movie is much more entertaining than the book.
I read 2600 Magazine too. Is Emmanuel Goldstein mentioned in the book as prominantly as he was in the movie? He reviewed the movie in 2600 and liked it as much as I do. Since 2600 is the only magazine that I can find that does not accept ads or outside money, I am sure that his review was as sencere as mine.
I wounder why Emmanuel never uses his handle "Cerial Killer" any more? I guess everybody grows out of that eventually.
But back to the big picture. The young folks on AOL helped me out a great deal on our companie's latest project.
Posting Anonymously because I have not been sent an account yet.
David Mathews
Vice President of New Technology
Digital Convergence
It's on Project Guetenburg... (Score:2)
Cheers.
Re:I have a copy. And I am willing to lend it. (Score:1)
Library? (Score:1)
Chris
Re:How To Get Hackers (Score:1)
For once we can get something the Americans can't! ;)
Keeper of the Wedding Shenanigans Home Page
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:2)
Indeed, and it gives a great insight into the corporate culture at DG (where I'm currently working).
Re:DG's still around? Wazzup with them? (Score:2)
Sort of, but not for much longer. They were bought out by EMC last year, and the DG name is slowly being retired (much like you don't see any new products from DEC these days). AViiON is the name of the server products. The storage products are called CLARiiON, and are what EMC were primarily after when they bought DG. They haven't become a complete service company -- more yet another Microsoft lackey, although it's amusing that they still have to resort to Unix for their higher end servers [dg.com], because although NT can run on them, it can't scale to use all the processors, unlike DG/UX. Although it's a bit spartan in places, DG/UX is one of my favourite Unices, particularly from a programming point of view. Although originally a SystemV variant, the DG/UX kernel was completely rewritten in house, and contains some nice goodies, like dg_xtrace(2), and of course ccNUMA supoprt.
Great book (Score:1)
It's interesting that back then, even though it was only a few years after the book was published, all the people in it seemed rather distant - I mean, what effect was some old guy at MIT doing LISP hacking going to have on my life (at 8). Now it's 9 years later, and it seems like all that only happened yesterday.
Re:Who moderated this up? (Score:1)
Troc
It's not out of print (Score:1)
It's good stuff, though. A second edition covering the open-source revival of the original hacker culture would be well worthwhile; there's a whole new generation of hackers out there who would enjoy this stuff.
Oh, and by the way: all you first-post children are truly contemptibly pathetic, you do realise that, don't you? Don't shit where you eat, you miserable little vandals.
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:2)
But the book is, indeed, quite a good read.
Re:A must-read for any Open Source fan (Score:1)
Wow! That's a great idea -- hey, wait a minute, the Sims aren't taking reading material before they pixelate! Darn....
- Richie
The British edition is still in print (Score:1)
Michael.
Electronic text for FTP... (Score:2)
Re:ESR should send big fat checks to Levy (Score:1)
Re:It's on Project Guetenburg... (Score:1)
*Sigh*. Read the Dictionary's history. (Score:2)
*sigh*.
ESR is only the current maintainer of the Hacker's Dictionary. It is the merging of two works: JARGON.TXT, which had been floating around the 'net for aeons being incrementally revised by various people, and "The Hacker's Dictionary", written in 1983 by Guy Steel.
This predates the publication of "Hackers".
See http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/jargtxt.html [tuxedo.org] for some of this.
Levy more accurate than PBS/Cringley (Score:2)
Levy is computer sociology columnist for Newsweek, so you can continue to read his stuff. Stephens (Cringely) still has a weekly column at pbs.org.
What hasn't been fully addressed yet is the history of hacking after it spread from the ivory towers of university computer labs and early PC companies and became a mass phenomenom in every high high school. Katz's "Geeks" is anecdotal account of latter-day hacking.
Re:ESR should send big fat checks to Levy (Score:1)
Well, just in case, I just want to reassert that your book is awesome, and at least IMHO, you're one true hacker yourself, albeit of the journalistic persuasion. Thanks, man!
--
A must read (Score:2)
It also gives you historical perspective on a couple of issues that periodically turn up on Slashdot (for the flaming delight of all posters), such as: the hacker vs. cracker (invader, script kiddie, whatever) dichotomy; the attitude problems of the prophet RMS and how he came to be who he is; the personality problems of most hacker types; the gap between the many hacker generations and their slightly differing world views. And really so much more.
And a follow up is definitely due. All the experiences Levy have gone through during the period he wrote the book pale in comparison to the explosion of the hacker culture in the nineties, largely due to the popularization of the web and the free software movement. I wonder what book might come of that when Levy once again puts his pen to the proverbial paper.
--
Re:ESR should send big fat checks to Levy (Score:2)
For all /. readers as clue impaired as our friend above here's the scoop: ESR's version of THD is based upon Guy Steele's version whch largely predates Levy's book, and is even mentioned in it (if my memory serves, Levy even mispells Steele's first name as Gus). Of course, since ESR's version came out after Hackers he does quote the book, and many of its anecdotes, and gives credit where credit is due.
Notice, sorcerer friend, that Levy's book is not a dictionary and is not meant to tell a story. So save your conspiratory theories of who stiffed who for when you write your own ficion. Not that you seem to be good at it, though.
--
The End for Mr. Levy (Score:1)
I'm dumb. Flame away (Score:1)
Whoops,
Mea Culpa
Re:ESR should send big fat checks to Levy (Score:2)
Also, though I like Eric a lot, I am continually ticked that Hackers Dictionary still criticizes Hackers for mistakes made in the first edition. Newsflash: These were corrected in the first paperback, which came out in 1985. OK, mistakes were made, but Geez, doesn't it make a difference that the vast majority of my readers never saw those errors?
How To Get Hackers (Score:5)
Re:You have a copy, I am willing to borrow it. (Score:1)
I have a copy. And I am willing to lend it. (Score:2)
Re:Kewl book. (Score:2)
Re:A must-read for any Open Source fan (Score:2)
I have about 3 magazines and four books on the back of mine (and lets not get into how many more my wife has stacked on there).
Maybe houses should be designed with room for a book case in the bathroom.
In a bookstore I got it for 12.95$ (Score:1)
Re:Defining "to hack" (Score:2)
But, upon reflection, this definition would make MacGyver the ultimate hacker, wouldn't it?
Hackers (Score:1)
Good review but... (Score:2)
That's certainly important, but I think that for the majority of new readers, the most important reason for reading is to get some perspective on the "hacker ethos". Some "old git" history if you will
If you haven't read this - track it down and enjoy
"Give the anarchist a cigarette"
Re:Defining "to hack" (Score:2)
Same as always, credit where credit is due :).
Re:A must-read for any Open Source fan (Score:2)
This book is my bathroom reading :) (Score:3)
Anyway, this is one of those books that I keep lying around to regularly browse through. I read sections randomly. My two favorite parts are the kid who made the robot that found a wallet thrown on the floor ("The grad students went nuts...") and some random Levy comment made when he said "Dance, phone lines, Dance!"
I've often wondered if Levy's interested in writing an updated version of this book. It doesn't have anything (much) to say on the subject of Microsoft, nor on the return of the rise of Unix/Linux. Might be interesting to see if he could find just as good a story today as he did back when he wrote Hackers.
Defining "to hack" (Score:3)
Re:Electronic text for FTP... (Score:4)
Hacking is Natural (Score:3)
Re:A shame it's hard to find... (Score:1)
Good look getting any of those published online.
Possibly a publisher could post out of date books on their own site, a physical page equals an online page, with a banner ad or something on each page.
Just a thought...
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:1)
Wow, how insulting. So, if you knew that Tracy Kidder was actually a man, would you complain that he leaves out detail?
Maybe you're really thinking of Margo Kidder? "For someone who played Lois Lane in all those movies, she's actually sort of a journalist."
At least I agree on one point -- Soul of a New Machine is a pretty neat book.
-schussat
Another good book-finding resource (Re:Library?) (Score:1)
-schussat
Kewl book. (Score:1)
If you haven't yet read Hackers, then you should, we all need to know where things came from to understand where they're going...
Re:Kewl book. (Score:1)
You trust your friends more than I trust mine
Re:Computer games -- Woohoo! (Score:2)
Great book - a must read! (Score:2)
Since reading this review, I realize that the time has come for me to re-read it again (right after I finish the current one I am reading - something called "Net-Slaves", not a very "great" book, but OK, and funny in areas).
If you haven't read Hackers, I urge you to pick up a copy and do so - a truely great read.
I support the EFF [eff.org] - do you?
A must-read for any Open Source fan (Score:1)
It will be reisued in the new year (Score:1)
so save your money if you can wait till then
Re:You have a copy, I am willing to borrow it. (Score:1)
phillip@ryals.com
_______________
you may quote me
Re:Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:1)
"Scriptkiddiot". I like that.
_______________
you may quote me
The holy triad.... (Score:1)
I'm glad to see that they've now all been reviewed by Slashdot.
If anybody is left that hasn't read all three, go now to the library/bookstore and get them and read them now and don't stop for food/sleep/classes/whatever.
Why are you still here?! GO!
Computer games (Score:1)
Re:Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:2)
To call all hackers innately good is just as wrong as calling all communists evil. The ability to hack does not conform to any arbitrary definition of good or evil. It's more basic than that. Like gravity or breathing or music.
Would you define a cheetah killing and eating an impala as an evil act? An avalanche killing some skiers?
You can put the labels 'good' and 'evil' on individual actions based on your socio-economic status, upbringing, moral and ethical code, religious beliefs, and whatnot but that doesn't mean that those labels can apply to hacking in general. Just to individual actions.
You need to rethink your basic assumptions. Hacking is a state of mind/being. Information wants to be free.
--
'...let the rabbits wear glasses...'
Y2038 consulting
Sequel of sorts to the video game portion (Score:2)
Re:Defining "to hack" (Score:1)
To learn more about the game hackers... (Score:3)
I first saw this work referenced on Slashdot the last time [slashdot.org] this book was reviewed. It's a good companion to "Hackers", especially the John Harris interview.
Re:Defining "to hack" (Score:1)
Bibliofind.com--the BEST BEST source of used books (Score:1)
They are GREAT....you can order from multiple used bookstores within the network (ie only one shopping cart) which really simplifies things...I've never had a bad experience or an innacurate book description pop up.
My copy is paperback, is in pristine condition, and cost something on the order of $15.
Good luck!
Re:Good review but... (Score:1)
Linux can be seen as the next Hacker wave. Hackers hack because they love to do it. When technological trends make this difficult, a new wave pops up in an unexpected direction.
The book, excluding the short chapter on RMS, ends on a depressing note, as hackers who love to write games and play with programming are being replaced by a factory model of programmers churning out code to specification, following the company business plan.
But hackers have found another way. Linux is the new wave. It is how people who love computers can get under the hood without violating an EULA. It may not destroy Microsoft, but it does give us our place to work and play. And if somehow, the Linux movement is stopped, another way will be found.
Re:Defining "to hack" (Score:1)
Re:Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:1)
Another "historical" hacker text (Score:1)
You can find affordable links to it at www.abebooks.com [abebooks.com] from anywhere between $7-$25.
Re:*Sigh*. Read the Dictionary's history. (Score:1)
Last I checked, http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/ isn't charging admission. Books are simply far more useful to some people. I think compiling and maintaining this thing is more difficult than you give it credit for. And anyway, ESR has certainly made the File far more accessible than JARGON.TXT ever was. Is that bad?
And, funny thing, the location for downloading it for free doesn't seem to be on the cover either. ESR pissed off a LOT of people when he did that.
Y'know, I think those people would be pissed off at him no matter what he does. I don't get it, but they seem to like picking on him for some reason.
Re:Kewl book. (Score:1)
Dude should have bought it on half.com (Score:1)
Re:Computer games -- Woohoo! (Score:1)
----
Re:Told ya so! Neener neener! (Score:1)
If that's what you took out of the book, I think you need to read it again. The reason behind the early hackers activities was exploration and learning. Code was the beginning and the ultimate outlet for exploration. Case closed.
Besides:
1. Mitnick was and is nothing, the only reason he gained noteriety was because of the way his rights were vioolated.
2. Slashdot did not redefine the word, the media did. With all due respect to Slashdot, they haven't been around nearly long enough to have been a part of early hacker culture (although they are making their place now).
Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:1)
Hacker: One who hacks for good.
Cracker: one who hacks for evil.
Whacker: One who just pushes a button for evil.
And finally, to fit with the 'cker' theme..
Mac-er: One who just pushes a button for good.
----
Re:Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:1)
when the term Crackers itself implies they're doign work. People who run DDOS programs or winnuke aren't cracking anything.
----
Re:It's on Project Guetenburg...(2 Chapters) (Score:2)
Well, maybe $28...Since it is a copyrighted work only the first two chapters are available--kinda like an O'Reilly book. But, these are good chapters!
I read this book in 1990 and loved it, too.
Now hiring experienced client- & server-side developers
Re:To learn more about the game hackers... (Score:2)
But I swear at least a pixel of the ball would visibly hit the right paddle's tip yet not register as a hit (burned me up all the time).
Computer games got me in front of the computer, but easy access to the programming languages (thanks, Apple!) with fun-to-read programming books (thanks, again, Apple!) kept me there. My biggest problem with my dad's IBM XT at the office was that it was more for running programs than hacking at them. Look: on the Apple you were thrown into AppleSoft Basic at the command prompt. In PC-/MS-DOS you have to weasel your way to the programming tools. Different mindset.
This is way I like Linux/BSD/UNIX -- the tools are there to use. The code is there -- learn it. Sure we need games and applications, but I need tools and the references that having the source code provides.
Now hiring experienced client- & server-side developers
Re:The Hacker Crackdown (Score:2)
The whole episode was pathetic. Basically, BellSouth had problems with people hacking into their switches and changing routing info, because they were using an unsecured X.25 network with dialin ports for remote access to switch maintenance ports. Through a series of political errors within BellSouth, they got locked onto prosecuting Neidorf, who published Phrack, a newsletter about his cracker friends. Neidorf was never accused of breaking into anything; he just published submissions. Most of what he published was either wrong or useless; as a technical expert for the defense I had to read through years of Phrack, and was totally unimpressed.
Almost everybody involved was a bozo; the crackers were incompetent, the telco security guy was in over his head, the Secret Service guy basically was conned by the telco guy, and Neidorf himself didn't impress me. Niedorf's lawyer, though, was really good.
It was worth it; the case established that freedom of speech applied to online communication, which was a real issue at the time. Big win. We could have ended up with the Internet being regulated for content like TV. Job done, I got out of the activism business.
John Nagle
Blame it on Bono. And Disney. (Score:2)
Waiting a century for Project Gutenberg to pick things up once the copyright expires just isn't the answer.
Tell me about it. Here's everything [everything2.com] you always wanted to know about the Sonny Bono Copyright Theft Act.* It's all a ploy to keep Walt Disney's Company's copyright on one cartoon, "Steamboat Willie" (the first Mickey Mouse cartoon).
*but were afraid to ask<O
( \
XGNOME vs. KDE: the game! [8m.com]
Whats the algorithm described in the book.. (Score:1)
But there was an algorithm mentioned, and a lot of hackers were trying to make it faster and faster. I think it was maybe a square root function? I never found out what this amazing optimisation was.
Does anyone know what i`m talking about here?
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:1)
You fucking dick.
Re:Levy is still around (Score:1)
Re:I have a copy. And I am willing to lend it. (Score:1)
and also very trusting. If you send it out the wrong person, they have your return address. Make sure you don't send it to that goat.cx guy
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:1)
The Hacker Crackdown (Score:2)
Bibliofind (Score:1)
Chapter 10 is available at... (Score:1)
There is also plenty of good material on computer history at this site.
http://acomp.stanford.edu/siliconhistory/reader
The FULL text of HC is available (Score:1)
fortunately not (Score:1)
But other than fun, it's also very easy and quick to work where you don't have to go asking around for permission to do this and that.
Re:Another good, old book, Soul of a New Machine (Score:1)
Slashdotters.
Enlightened.
Mmm. Maybe if you only read at +2 or more?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Re:A shame it's hard to find... (Score:1)
If you just bung it on the net without asking, then that's wrong. It's impolite and breaks the law. If something could be set up where permission is granted by the author, or the author's family (if deceased), to make an out of print, but not out of copyright book freely available, then that would be a good idea.
It has to be by consent of the people who hold the copyright. I'm sure the authors, or the families of authors, of books long out of print would rather see people enjoying their work, provided they don't lose earnings - which they don't on books not in print.
Possibly a clause could be made in the contract to remove consent should the book be reprinted in bulk for a re-release. Printing one or two copies wouldn't count as a reprint, it would have to be a proper re-release of x thousand books or the like.
It's a job for the lawyers. Does Project Gutenberg have lawyers?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Re:A shame it's hard to find... (Score:1)
Here's an exercise for you. Pick up a book. Any book. Look at the first few pages before the book starts proper.
There you'll find a copyright notice. Most books (in a brief sampling session from my own bookshelves at least) are Copyright .
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Re:A shame it's hard to find... (Score:1)
Oh Bollocks!
What I meant to say was that most books are copyright their author - so if the book is out of print and the author can be persuaded to let it go into the public domain, that's the author's prerogative.
Certainly with books of this nature - they get more dated as time goes by - there's a chance that future reprints would be unlikely.
Maybe
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Levy now... (Score:3)
Re:Hacking, Cracking, my opinion. (Score:1)
That's funny...when you mentioned a 'cker' theme, the words that popped into my head were quite different...
Another nice read by a different Levy (Score:1)
Published in 91, the first half of the book is about the people involved and their attempts at making a computer play chess, and ends on the first Kasparov-Deep Thought match in 89. Feng Hsiung Hsu, Shannon, Lasker, John McCarthy (yeah, that one), Botvinnik, and many others are portrayed.
The second half goes into more technicalities, talking about the CS behind the programs, hash tables, move generators and algorithms. It is certainly worth a read.
The details of my copy (don't if there's a newer edition):
How Computers Play Chess
by David Levy and Monty Newborn
Computer Science Press, (c) 1991 by W.H. Freeman and Co.
ISBN: 0-7167-8121-2
Enjoy. I'll go back to lurking now...
CGR
--
If you want to live in a country ruled by religion, move to Iran.
Re:Who moderated this up? (Score:1)
Electronic Release? (Score:1)
Re:Hacking is Natural (Score:1)
What's been forgotten (Score:2)
tsk, tsk (Score:2)
It still remains a good read, though. Wonder if that guy who camped out in MITS' parking lot still has his Altair?
Time vs. Newsweek (Score:2)
One thing I've found quite different about Time vs. Newsweek is the technology coverage. Newsweek tends to have a pretty realistic grasp on things, even if I don't agree with some of the focus. Time, on the other hand, is remarkably lame on computer/software coverage for a magazine of its stature. For instance, in the early 90s, they had a cover story about the Internet being 85% full of porn, or something like that, which was repudiated by another study and caused major embarrassment. Time Digital lists the "Cyber Elite" (that title should tell you something); in recent years, it included John Romero TWICE in a row, AND Lara Croft thrown in among famous net names. I guess it was supposed to make it look hip and trendy, and this is the kind of stuff people sipping mochas at starbucks buy into.
This is somewhat understandable - editors are generally older generation people who are carried away by the gee whiz aura and have difficulty figuring out lame fads from real trends. Somewhat like managers who can't figure out the real tech-heads from the fast talkers. But this has a major impact on tech coverage in mainstream newspapers and magazines. In fact, I generally find most of them not worth even reading on this subject except for NY Times (which has markoff) and newsweek.
I wish media would hire more people who know this stuff, rather than devote pages to crap about hackers breaking into banks, viruses and futuristic nonsense. At least people who know the meaning of the word "hackers".
w/m
Will this book teach me to be a l337 h4x0r? (Score:2)
if i was l337. [ridiculopathy.com], i would h4x0r all day and all night.
A shame it's hard to find... (Score:2)
It is a real shame that "Copyright Law" allows great books like this to become rare historical artifacts after so few years. What would the downside be of having old, out of print books migrate in their entirety to the net much much sooner than is currently allowed?
Waiting a century for Project Gutenberg to pick things up once the copyright expires just isn't the answer. How many great (and even just 'interesting') works are lost to obscurity because of this?
Bah!
chris