
Excerpts from "Hackers and Painters," Paul Graham.
Preface
- This is the Computer Age. It was supposed to be the Space Age, or the Atomic Age. But those were just names invented by PR people.
- ...within the computer world, expert programmers refer to themselves as hackers.
- Computer programs are all just text.
- Programming languages are what programmers think in.
- Programmers tend to be divided into tribes by the languages they use.
- The fact is, hackers are obsessed with free speech.
- Slashdot, the New York Times of hacking...
- ...innovation is so important in software, and innovation and heresy are practically the same thing.
- Good hackers develop a habit of questioning everything.
- The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, where you can think anything you want, if you're willing to risk the consequences.
Chap 1: Why Nerds Are Unpopular
- ...there is a strong correlation between being smart and being a nerd.
- There was something else I wanted more: to be smart.
- ...but to design beautiful rockets, or to write well, or to understand how to program computers. In general, to make great things.
- Nerds...don't realize that it takes work to be popular.
- Michelangelo had his nose broken by a bully.
- Nerds aren't losers. They're just playing a different game...
- It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school.
Hackers and Painters Link to Paul Graham

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