TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

An old-school shell hack on a line printer

4 pointsby Sir_Cmpwnover 5 years ago

1 comment

kickover 5 years ago
This is beautiful! Not enough tiny, pure hacks are done anymore.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stallman.org&#x2F;articles&#x2F;on-hacking.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stallman.org&#x2F;articles&#x2F;on-hacking.html</a><p><i>The hacking community developed at MIT and some other universities in the 1960s and 1970s. Hacking included a wide range of activities, from writing software, to practical jokes, to exploring the roofs and tunnels of the MIT campus. Other activities, performed far from MIT and far from computers, also fit hackers&#x27; idea of what hacking means: for instance, I think the controversial 1950s &quot;musical piece&quot; by John Cage, 4&#x27;33&quot; (</i><i></i><i>), is more of a hack than a musical composition. The palindromic three-part piece written by Guillaume de Machaut in the 1300s, &quot;Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement&quot;, was also a good hack, even better because it also sounds good as music. Puck appreciated hack value.</i><p><i>It is hard to write a simple definition of something as varied as hacking, but I think what these activities have in common is playfulness, cleverness, and exploration. Thus, hacking means exploring the limits of what is possible, in a spirit of playful cleverness. Activities that display playful cleverness have &quot;hack value&quot;.</i>