Index
cartel n: a consortium of companies formed to
limit competition; "they set up the trust in hopes of gaining a monopoly."
syn: [trust, combine]
hacker n.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to lean only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in 'a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tried to discover sensitive information by poking around. hence 'password hacker', 'network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
The term 'hacker' tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the hacker ethic).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus). See also wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
From the Jargon File
Mp3 n.
Mp3 is a digital
format for music that involves downloading a track from a CD and compressing
it. This compression is extremely efficient and portable, and the Diamond
Rio takes advantage of this.