Hackers and Painters
[US] Paul Graham,
translated by Ruan Yifeng
The text can be divided into three parts.
Chapters 1 to 4. (Read "Hackers and Painters" (1))
Chapters 5 to 9. ( Read Hackers and Painters (2) )
Chapters 10 to 15. ( Read Hackers and Painters (3) )
Hacker Ethics
$ The use of computers and all things that help to understand the nature of this world should not be restricted in any way. Anything should be tried by hand.
(Access to computers-and anything that might teach you something about the way the world works-should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!)
$ All information should be free.
(All information should be free.)
$ Do not trust authority, advocate decentralization.
(Mistrust Authority-Promote Decentralization.)
$ Judge the level of a hacker should be based on his technical ability, rather than other criteria such as his education, age or status.
(Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.)
$ You can create beauty and art with a computer.
(You can create art and beauty on a computer.)
$ Computers make life better.
(Computers can change your life for the better.)
> Innovation is heresy
(Some people think that innovation is naturally right, and at the same time that heresy is inherently wrong. Stupid people)
> Good hackers develop the habit of questioning everything
Chapters 1 through 4, explaining how hackers grow up and some perspectives on how they see the world
> Why nerds aren't welcome
(their minds are elsewhere)
$ Smart kids (nerds) are not popular with their peers because they prefer to make themselves smarter than to make themselves more popular. What they really want is to do great things.
$ The real world treats nerds friendly because the population is big enough that even the smallest minority can have considerable power when gathered together, and everything they do can have a real effect.
> Painters and Hackers
(Hackers are creators too, just like painters, architects, writers)
$ Computer science is just a medium of expression. Many unrelated fields are forcibly grouped together under the name "computer science". (A: "Fix a computer." B: "Give me money")
$ A hacker needs to understand "computation theory" as much as a painter needs to understand pigment chemistry.
$ Programming languages are there to help think about programs, not to express programs you've already thought of.
$ Universities and labs force hackers to be scientists, corporations force hackers to be engineers.
$ A good programming language should, like oil paint, allow us to easily change our minds. The flexibility of programming languages lies in abstraction.
$ 正确的合作方法是将项目分割成严格定义的模块，每个模块由一个人明确负责。模块与模块之间的接口经过精心设计。文档说明也尽量写得像编程语言规范那样清晰。
$ “换位思考”并不意味着要做自我牺牲。某些情况下，了解对手正是为了打击对手。可以通过看一个人怎样向没有技术背景的人解释技术问题，来判断他是否具备“换位思考”的能力。
> 不能说的话
$ 不要随大流
$ 如何找出不能说的话
~ 判断言论的真伪
· 正确的，或者看起来正确，值得进一步讨论的话
· 错误的言论会被当作笑话，或发疯的证据
~ 关注“异端邪说”
· 历史上的每一个时代，都会给“异端邪说”贴标签，目的是在人们开始思考它们是否为真之前就把它们封杀
~ 寻找当代观念与不同时期古代观念的不同处
~ 看看一本正经的卫道者到底在捍卫什么
（我认为让小孩尽早接触更全面的信息，无论“好”“坏”全接触，使其尽早拥有独立思考的能力，才是保护小孩的正确措施。而不是屏蔽各种“不良信息”）
~ 观察禁忌是如何产生的
如果一个团体强大到无比自信，它根本不会在乎别人的抨击
$ 优秀作品往往来自于其他人忽视的想法，而最被忽视的想法就是那些被禁止的思想观点。
~ A good scientist should try to break the traditional view and ask for trouble . This should be the way any scholar should do research.
~ People with higher intelligence are more willing to think about those shocking ideas.
$ Be tight-lipped about "what can't be said" and fight only those battles that are worth fighting .
("You are not even qualified to be beaten by me")
~ The person who can talk about "heresy" together without getting mad about it is the friend you should know the most.
$ always question
("I choose not to question just because I don't want to pay the cost of questioning, it doesn't mean I think you're right")
~ Everyone will say that they are open-minded and willing to accept new ideas. In fact, they have long recognized right and wrong, and all views can be discussed, except those that are wrong.
~ To think clearly, you must stay away from crowds.
> good bad habits
(Like other Americans, the secret to hacking success is breaking the rules)
$ The source of America's wealth and power is some disobedience .
( read Hackers and Painters (2) )
( read Hackers and Painters (3) )