Famous hacks

[cosmolinguist]

I was looking at this article about Legos--apparently they may actually go back to making good Legos because the new things are inferior and no one wants to buy them--and saw a link to another news article called "nine famous hacks." I clicked on it, thinking it'd be cooler if they used my definition of "hack" instead of theirs, and sort of glanced at their list. A couple were viruses I'd heard of and one mentioned a movie I've seen (War Games). Ho hum. The last one was interesting, though:

9.) Linux and Perl: With a nod to the origins of the word, these are two of the best hacks of all-time, in terms of impact. Linus Torvalds hacked together Linux and made it work on the Intel platform, a big plus for companies that wanted Unix performance without having to pay workstation prices. Larry Wall took two programs called 'sed' and 'awk' and put together PERL, one of the most widely used scripting tools around. Steve Wozniak's hack, the Apple I, is also worth a mention.

I don't know anything about Perl, but it never occurred to me to think of Linux (even with this quirky and oversimplified description) as a hack.

Comments

[czircon.livejournal.com]

Whoa! They're going to make good Legos again? Could you point me to that article?

[cosmolinguist]

Sure.

[parakleta.livejournal.com]

Well, I think of a hack as just an intelligent and creative use of existing resources... kind of like a more high tech and involved version of jury-rigging. Well, different to jury-rigging actually, because that's about repairing something, where as hacking is about making or changing something.

There's a better word for it... hmm... A hack is an ingenious use of existing resources. Better.

[cosmolinguist]

I know what a hack is, I just never thought of Linux being one. Probably because I'm used to thinking of it as big and sprawling and official in its unofficial way.

And, hey, the rest of the list was viruses and such; this was also the only item that was a hack in the real sense of the word, so it was sort of disorienting for that, too.

[parakleta.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'd put viruses in the same list, I think that would disorient me as well. Most viruses that I'm aware of are assembled by script kiddies, and generally aren't very clever.

There was one a while ago that I read about that had a Thylacine deficiency, and that was kind of cool though.

[uclacorey.livejournal.com]

Legos are too small--now Lego Duplos--those are cool. Big blocks, so you didn't have to concentrate, no small pieces, and definately much more stable when you build two ships and smash them into each other repeatedly until one of them breaks =)

did you ever go to a hospital waiting room that had those giant giant legos?

I've met a surprising number of Minnesotans at Starbucks. I yell at them and kick them out...especially if they're Lutheran =)