HACKERS : HEROES OF THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION

Levy describes the people, the machines, and the events that defined the Hacker Culture
and the Hacker Ethic, from the early mainframe hackers at MIT, to the self-made
hardware hackers and game hackers. Immediately following is a brief overview of the
issues and ideas that are brought forward by Steven Levy's book, as well as a more
detailed interpretation of each chapter of the book, mentioning some of the principal
characters and events.

Levy was first drawn to writing about hackers those computer programmers and
designers who regard computing as the most important thing in the world because they
were such fascinating people. Though some in the field used the term "hacker" as a form
of derision, implying that hackers were either nerdy social outcasts or "unprofessional"
programmers who wrote dirty, "nonstandard" computer code, he found them quite
different. The ones who most clearly saw why the computer was a truly revolutionary
tool. Among themselves, they knew how far one could go by immersion into the deep
concentration of the hacking mind-set: one could go infinitely far. he came to understand
why true hackers consider the term an appellation of honor rather than a pejorative.

As he talks to these digital explorers, ranging from those who tamed multimilliondollar
machines in the 1950s to contemporary young wizards who mastered computers in their
suburban bedrooms, he found a common philosophy which seemed tied to the elegantly
flowing logic of the computer itself. It was a philosophy of sharing, openness,
decentralization, and getting your hands on machines at any cost to improve the
machines, and to improve the world. This Hacker Ethic is their gift to us: something with
value even to those of us with no interest at all in computers.

The hacker ethic deals with the idea that individuals are performing a duty for the
common good, an analogy to a modern day 'Robin Hood' It was stated in the Hacker
Ethic that all information was to be free , that art was created in the computer. The world
may seem to think that hackers are the ultimate evil of the digital world as they tend to
create viruses , disturb the balance of the digital world, but one must think, and see that
they become visionaries on a whole different level, innovators , they have full knowledge
and control , almost having a full grasp on the digital world. It was in his book, that he
distinguished the different types of hackers according to their line of work, where he
highlighted the likes of “True” hackers, “Hardware” hackers and “Game” hackers, giving
a detailed description about them. The famous hackers of that time and in his epilogue, he
marked, “ The last of True Hackers”. His book clearly gives us a deeper insight on how it
feels to be like a hacker, what’s really going on in a hackers mind, the crazy yet
innovative creations they have done, making the computer their live and the digital world
their forte, their playing field. His book states that , these soo called fascinating people,
set the digital world, molded it into its current form we say today, these hackers lived
their life, revolving around computers. We focus on the negatives and completely forget
the positives they may occur to our society as a member of it. At the very least, they have
caught our attention and their work is surely recognized.