Isn't hacking basically understanding an aspect of computing, and then 'abusing' it?
>>53720944
In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".
I went to lunch with some GNU fans, and was sitting down to eat some tteokpaekki, when a waitress set down six chopsticks right in front of me. It occurred to me that perhaps these were meant for three people, but it was more amusing to imagine that I was supposed to use all six. I did not know any way to do that, so I realized that if I could come up with a way, it would be a hack. I started thinking. After a few seconds I had an idea.
First I used my left hand to put three chopsticks into my right hand. That was not so hard, though I had to figure out where to put them so that I could control them individually. Then I used my right hand to put the other three chopsticks into my left hand. That was hard, since I had to keep the three chopsticks already in my right hand from falling out. After a couple of tries I got it done.
Then I had to figure out how to use the six chopsticks. That was harder. I did not manage well with the left hand, but I succeeded in manipulating all three in the right hand. After a couple of minutes of practice and adjustment, I managed to pick up a piece of food using three sticks converging on it from three different directions, and put it in my mouth.
It didn't become easy—for practical purposes, using two chopsticks is completely superior. But precisely because using three in one hand is hard and ordinarily never thought of, it has "hack value", as my lunch companions immediately recognized. Playfully doing something difficult, whether useful or not, that is hacking.
>>53720944
It's just using software in a way it wasn't intended.
>>53720959
Incredible, thanks for sharing. Mind if I save this story so that I can come back to it later?
>>53721016
Not so much "using", but "breaking" software or abusing its lack of security and/or the language it was written in. You can jump around to any part of a program or inject code by making buffer overflows in C and assembly programs. It's some pretty crazy stuff.
>>53720944
Isn't it about typing 150 WPM like you see in the movies?
>>53721041
Please continue to spread the story at any place on the internet.
>>53720959
We're you 12 at the time? Normal adults would just eat their food.
In the context of "a clever hack", I'd say hacking is making something (usually computer hardware) do something it wasn't designed to do, by deep understanding of why it works anyway. If you stumble into something neat by dumb luck, it's not hacking.
>>53721016
thats what i always say but what about stuff like metasploit?
>>53720959
This sounds like Stallman from his blog.
>>53720959
>>53722877
What a useless pile of self-indulgent garbage.
>>53722996
you're just jealous you can't hack chopsticks
>>53723012
I can, I just don't congratulate myself for being clever enough to do it.
