/won' *-bee/ (Or, more plausibly, spelled "wannabe") [Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol probably originally from biker slang] A would-be
hACKer. The connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be entering
larval stage, it is semi-approving such wannabees can be annoying but most h
ACKers remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or
suit, it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to cuddle up to the h
ACKer mystique but doesn' t, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of h
ACKer terms is often an indication of the
wannabee nature. Compare
newbie. Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different flavour now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the people who are now h
ACKerdom' s tribal elders were in
larval stage, the process of becoming a h
ACKer was largely unconscious and unaffected by models known in popular culture - communities formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt irresistibly drawn to do h
ACKerly things, and what wannabees experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focussed desire to become similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever society' s adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included the elevation of the h
ACKer as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to *be h
ACKers* and borrow h
ACKish prestige by fitting the popular image of h
ACKers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time h
ACKers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia of lore like this one. [
Jargon File]
In addition suitable contents:
[ = ] [ ad ] [ af ] [ ag ] [ ai ] [ al ] [ am ] [ an ] [ app ] [ ar ] [ arc ] [ arg ] [ as ] [ at ] [ au ] [ av ] [ aw ] [ b ] [ ba ] [ be ] [ bi ] [ bj ] [ bo ] [ by ] [ C ] [ ca ] [ cat ] [ ch ] [ ci ] [ ck ] [ cl ] [ co ] [ com ] [ computer ] [ con ] [ cons ] [ cr ] [ cu ] [ dd ] [ de ] [ diff ] [ ding ] [ do ] [ du ] [ dual ] [ ec ] [ ed ] [ ee ] [ er ] [ es ] [ et ] [ fi ] [ file ] [ flavour ] [ fo ] [ for ] [ fr ] [ ga ] [ ge ] [ gh ] [ gi ] [ gr ] [ gs ] [ h ] [ hACK ] [ hACKer ] [ hACKish ] [ hang ] [ hat ] [ hing ] [ hose ] [ hr ] [ ht ] [ id ] [ ie ] [ iff ] [ il ] [ image ] [ in ] [ inc ] [ include ] [ io ] [ iq ] [ ir ] [ is ] [ it ] [ J ] [ Jargon File ] [ ke ] [ ki ] [ kn ] [ la ] [ larval stage ] [ ld ] [ Lex ] [ li ] [ like this ] [ lk ] [ ls ] [ lt ] [ lu ] [ ly ] [ M ] [ ma ] [ micro ] [ microcomputer ] [ mil ] [ mm ] [ mo ] [ mod ] [ mode ] [ model ] [ module ] [ mp ] [ ms ] [ mu ] [ my ] [ N ] [ na ] [ nature ] [ nc ] [ ne ] [ newbie ] [ ng ] [ ni ] [ nn ] [ no ] [ ns ] [ O ] [ om ] [ op ] [ pa ] [ pe ] [ ph ] [ pl ] [ ply ] [ pop ] [ pr ] [ process ] [ program ] [ programmer ] [ pt ] [ query ] [ rc ] [ re ] [ real ] [ rl ] [ ro ] [ row ] [ ru ] [ S ] [ sa ] [ sc ] [ se ] [ semi ] [ set ] [ sh ] [ shar ] [ sharp ] [ si ] [ sk ] [ sl ] [ sn ] [ so ] [ spell ] [ st ] [ su ] [ subject ] [ suit ] [ T ] [ tag ] [ talk ] [ tee ] [ th ] [ to ] [ tr ] [ tt ] [ ua ] [ up ] [ us ] [ va ] [ ve ] [ vi ] [ wb ] [ wizard ] [ wizardly ] [ write ] [ ye ] [ za ]