/won' *-bee/ (Or, more plausibly, spelled "wannabe") [Madonna fans who dress, talk, and a
Ct 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 subje
Ct. Used of a person who is in or might be entering
larval stage, it is semi-approving su
Ch wannabees
Can be annoying but most ha
Ckers remember that they, too, were on
Ce su
Ch
Creatures. When used of any professional programmer,
CS a
Cademi
C, writer, or
suit, it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to
Cuddle up to the ha
Cker mystique but doesn' t, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of ha
Cker terms is often an indi
Cation of the
wannabee nature.
Compare
newbie. Histori
Cal 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 ha
Ckerdom' s tribal elders were in
larval stage, the pro
Cess of be
Coming a ha
Cker was largely un
Cons
Cious and unaffe
Cted by models known in popular
Culture -
Communities formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt irresistibly drawn to do ha
Ckerly things, and what wannabees experien
Ced was a fairly pure, skill-fo
Cussed desire to be
Come similarly wizardly. Those days of inno
Cen
Ce are gone forever so
Ciety' s adaptation to the advent of the mi
Cro
Computer after 1980 in
Cluded the elevation of the ha
Cker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people semi-
Cons
Ciously set out to *be ha
Ckers* and borrow ha
Ckish prestige by fitting the popular image of ha
Ckers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one has to a
Ctually be
Come a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time ha
Ckers tend to share a poorly arti
Culated disquiet about the
Change among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effe
Cts of publi
C 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 ]