In hacker culture, what did 'hack' originally mean?
AnswerA clever or playful technical solution
At MIT, a hack meant an ingenious feat, not a break-in.
Tech · Facts & stats
Hack facts & stats
7 fact-checked facts about hacker culture and computing history, each with the reason behind it. 5 more are in today's round and join this page after it closes.
The basics
Which university's model railroad club is credited with early hacker culture?
AnswerMIT
MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club helped coin hacker slang in the 1950s and 60s.
Going deeper
Who founded the GNU Project in 1983?
AnswerRichard Stallman
Stallman announced GNU to create a free Unix-like system.
Which book by Steven Levy popularized the 'hacker ethic'?
AnswerHackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Levy's 1984 book described the hacker ethic.
What is the Jargon File?
AnswerA glossary of hacker slang
It began in 1975 as a collection of hacker terms.
Expert level
Which early computer game was created at MIT in 1962?
AnswerSpacewar!
Spacewar! was written for the PDP-1 by Steve Russell and others.
On which MIT computer was much early hacker culture built?
AnswerPDP-1
The DEC PDP-1 arrived at MIT in 1961 and became a hacker favorite.
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