High-Tech : Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

EUR 8,50


Steven Levy s classic book explains why the misuse of the word hackers to describe computer criminals does a terrible disservice to many important shapers of the digital revolution. Levy follows members of an MIT model railroad club--a group of brilliant budding electrical engineers and computer innovators--from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. These eccentric characters used the term hack to describe a clever way of improving the electronic system that ran their massive railroad. And as they started designing clever ways to improve computer systems, hack moved over with them. These maverick characters were often fanatics who did not always restrict themselves to the letter of the law and who devoted themselves to what became known as The Hacker Ethic. The book traces the history of hackers, from finagling access to clunky computer-card-punching machines to uncovering the inner secrets of what would become the Internet. This story of brilliant, eccentric, flawed, and often funny people devoted to their dream of a better world will appeal to a wide audience.

Ein gutes Buch um einen intellektuellen Einstieg zu finden - Das Buch nähert sich den sogenannten Hackern von der intellektuellen Seite. Keine Hacker-Geheimsprache sondern klare Worte erkären die Szene und die verschiedenen Techniken. Auch für Beginner der Hacker-Szene ein sehr lesenswertes Buch sowie die, welche gegen die Hacker-Szene arbeiten.

Motivation - This book is the motivation you need to sit in front of a computer for 48 hours without even thinking about the real life . Really a great book!

Amazingly Good Book! - Before I had all the programming books, C, Perl, VB. But I was not motivated enough to read them till I read this book and try to be a good programmer well at least try to be a future hacker!

One of the classic computer industry histories - I agree with the many other reviewers about the virtues of this book. It covers the evolution of the computer out of the glass room perhaps the best of any book out there. The book s strong narrative structure is also its only real flaw as it forces the history of the computer into a neat east/west dicotomy capped off by an idealized Richard Stallman portrayed as the last hacker. Still, a great book that is one of the must reads for anyone interested in how the computer industry grew and developed.

Looking into a world you thought you knew - Hackers is a watershed work... its ability to explain technical concepts is suitable for almost anyone, but its explanation of the human concept behind the early days of the computing industry -- WHY hackers were, not just WHAT they were -- is unparalleled except possibly in The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling. You might have thought you knew that the personal computer came from IBM, which it didn t, or from Apple, which it didn t. You might have thought even the term hacker meant a malicious attacker and destroyer of complex systems, when the opposite was and is true. No matter how much time you ve spent in the industry, whether you re in hardware, software or management, this book will show you how much of what you thought you knew is wrong or incomplete. The players are three-dimensional, the strands linking the storylines are bright and strong, the tone isn t moralistic, and it shows clearly how not only the Hacker Ethic began and evolved, but gives us insight as to why it s still alive, well, relevant and NEEDED in an era of know-nothing suits, IPO-driven greed, and mindless hype. Buy it. Buy two. Buy three. Give them to your friends.




Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution