Essay/Term paper: A hacker

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Information Technology

A Hacker


A hacker is a person obsessed with computers. At the heart of the
obsession is a drive master the computer. The classic hacker was simply a
compulsive programmer. It is only recently that the term hacker became
associated with the computerized vandalism.
Great description of Hackers: Bright young men of disheveled
apperance,Often with sunken, glowing eyes.Seen sitting at computer consoles,
their arms tense and waitingTo fire their fingers which are already posed to
strike at the buttons and keys on which their attention seems to dice.They work
until they nearly drop,twenty or thirty hours at a time if possible.They sleep
on cots near the computer,but only a few hours-then back to the console, or
printouts.Their crumpled clothes, their unwashed, unsheven faces, and uncombed
hair, testify that they are oblivious to their bodies and to the word in which
they move. They exist, at least when so gaged, only through and for the
computers.

The majority of hackers are mostly young men, often teenagers who have
found within the computer world, something into which they can mold their
desires.

Another definition -a person totally engrossed in computer programming and
computer technology. In the 1980s, with the advent of personal computers and
dial-up computer networks, hacker acquired a pejorative connotation, often
referring to someone who secretively invades others' computers, inspecting or
tampering with the programs or data stored on them. (More accurately, though,
such a person would be called a "cracker.") Hacker also means someone who,
beyond mere programming, likes to take apart operating systems and programs to
see what makes them tick