[sdiy] [OT] Hacker Dictionary

[Brousseau, Paul E (Paul)]

One of my favorite computer-related stories comes from that book.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the professor in the story.  It goes something like this:

A freshman was having a horrible time work a particular program.  He would start the program, crash the machine, power it down, restart it, and try again, and again, to no avail.  Sencing the poor student's frusteration at yet another crash, the professor came over and asked what was wrong.  "My machine is constantly crashing-- I'm at my wit's end!", the student lamented.  "Student," the professor said, "you cannot fix a program by simply power-cycling the machine; you must first understand the problem."  With that, the professor turned the machine off, turned it back on again, and the program ran flawlessly.

Ah, I wish I knew where my copy of the book was.  I must have lent it out to someone who decided they enjoyed it too much to return.  :(

--PBr

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Tillman [mailto:don at till.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 10:54 AM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Cc: cfmd at swipnet.se
Subject: [sdiy] Hacker Dictionary (was Walsh Generator Release, of all
things)


   > Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 20:10:51 +0200 (CEST)
   > From: Magnus Danielson <cfmd at swipnet.se>
   > 
   > The New Hacker's Dictionary compiled by Eric S. Raymond 
   > 
   > The dictionary is online, but I do recommend that you get the
   > book, and lie down and read some of it when you have an agonizing
   > problem.  You will find that you enlarge your vocabulary, make
   > yourself understood by peers and get better respect by management
   > since now they do not understand what you say... ;O)

I heartily recommend this book.  It's not just a dictionary, it's a
tour of the Hacker Ethic movement fostered at MIT, Stanford and other
places.  Though I never went to school there, I've been lucky enough
to have lived and worked right next to both Stanford and MIT, and
worked closely with a number of the folks featured prominently in the
dictionary.  And it's all been an incredible learning experience.