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Jargon File

The Jargon File is an institution. Hacker culture, like any other culture, has produced a rich texture of slang, tech speak, TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) and ETLAs (Extended TLAs), wordplays, jokes… you name it, they have it. And like any self-respecting community they have a sort of dictionary for the stuff: the aforementioned Jargon File which is a collaborative effort under the able stewardship of Eric S. Raymond.

The Jargon File is a good resource for quite a few of the geek terms flying around but (like any well-done work of reference) it is even more an invitation to browse: entertaining definitions, surprising connections, strange concepts… I (almost) know it by heart and I still love to lose myself in its pages (yes, there's also a version in print, ie on real paper: The New Hacker's Dictionary, by Eric S. Raymond, ed., with Guy L. Steele Jr).

For a start, you might look up the terms hacker and cracker. Or, for some guidance on how to leave the Childish Ways of the Wannabee behind and instead walk the Holy Pathway of True Hackerdom, go here: http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/loginataka.html

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$updated from: Jargon File.htxt Thu 27 Apr 2017 10:06:49 thomasl (By Thomas Lauer)$