Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age

by Paul Graham

Overview

"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham

We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?

Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596550660
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/18/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	592,587
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Paul Graham , designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. His technique for spam filtering inspired most current filters. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard and studied painting at RISD and the Accademia in Florence.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
1.	Why Nerds Are Unpopular: Their minds are not on the game	1
2.	Hackers and Painters: Hackers are makers, like painters or architects or writers	18
3.	What You Can't Say: How to think heretical thoughts and what to do with them	34
4.	Good Bad Attitude: Like Americans, hackers with by breaking rules	50
5.	The Other Road Ahead: Web-based software offers the biggest opportunity since the arrival of the microcomputer	56
6.	How to Make Wealth: The best way to get rich is to create wealth. And startups are the best way to do that	87
7.	Mind the Gap: Could "unequal income distribution" be less of a problem than we think?	109
8.	A Plan for Spam: Till recently most experts thought spam filtering wouldn't work. This proposal changed their minds	121
9.	Taste for Makers: How do you make great things?	130
10.	Programming Languages Explained: What a programming language is and why they are a hot topic now	146
11.	The Hundred-Year Language: How will we program in a hundred years? Why not start now?	155
12.	Beating the Averages: For web-based applications you can use whatever language you want. So can your competitors	169
13.	Revenge of the Nerds: In technology, "industry best practice" is a recipe for losing	181
14.	The Dream Language: A good programming language is one that lets hackers have their way with it	200
15.	Design and Research: Research has to be original. Design has to be good	216
	Notes	223
	Acknowledgments	237
	Image Credits	239
	Glossary	241
	Index	251

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
The programmer worldview has spread through the broader culture, touching millions of people in ways they don’t begin to realize. In Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham looks at that worldview straight on: a worldview of people who make new things, and want to make them as great as possible.

Along the way, Graham muses about everything from the reasons pro basketball players aren’t overpaid to the reasons teenage nerds are so unpopular (it’s a full-time job being popular, and they’re otherwise occupied). There are trenchant observations on how good design happens; on the value of searching out heretical ideas; on what programming languages might look like in 100 years. You won’t agree with everything, but you’ll be challenged and fascinated throughout. Even the footnotes are worth reading. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

bn.com

Big Ideas From the Computer Age
As more and more aspects of our lives - typewriters, phones, cameras, cars, etc. - become computerized, the need to understand the world of computer programmers becomes more and more apparent. In Hackers & Painters, computer science expert and painter Paul Graham examines the world of computer programmers and what motivates them to create the most important technical breakthroughs. While discussing the many issues that have accompanied the computer's rise to prominence in our lives, Graham attempts to answer many of the questions that have emerged along the way.

For starters, Graham explains that the word "hacker" has more than one definition. Although many might think of a hacker as a malicious malcontent who breaks into computers, the hackers who Graham refers to throughout Hackers & Painters are the good computer programmers who make all the magic of computers happen at the touch of a finger.

Graham's first chapter, "Why Nerds Are Unpopular," attempts to explain why smart children are at the bottom of the food chain in high school, and describes the dilemmas facing them when they are too young and unorganized to put their gifts into action. While contemplating the terms "character" and "integrity," Graham follows his own progress from nerd to computer scientist to painter. He explains that painters and computer hackers have much in common, including the desire to make good things.

Masterpieces and Software
When comparing the development of great software to the creation of a painted masterpiece, Graham points to Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci. He explains that da Vinci's painting is not great simply because of the beautiful form of the woman in the foreground, but is arresting because of the immense attention to background and foreground details that produces a complete and stunning work. Graham writes, "Great software, likewise, requires a fanatical devotion to beauty. If you look inside good software, you find that parts no one is ever supposed to see are beautiful too."

Ambition and Routine
When discussing the intricacies of hacking and the management of it, he explains that the ups and downs of inspiration must be taken into account. "In both painting and hacking there are some tasks that are terrifyingly ambitious, and others that are comfortingly routine. It's a good idea to save some easy tasks for moments when you could otherwise stall."

Graham, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from Harvard and has studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design as well as the Accademia in Florence, Italy, points out that the similarities between hackers and painters are endless. For example, he writes, "Like painting, most software is intended for a human audience. And so hackers, like painters, must have empathy to do really great work. You have to be able to see things from the user's point of view."

Hackers & Painters can be seen as a compilation of essays, each held within a single chapter, that explore the concepts of creativity and computer programming as seen through the eyes of an imaginative thinker who has strong and personal ideas on all the subjects he attacks. Along the way, he describes how spam can be destroyed, the role of "taste" in the creative process, how programming languages work, what type of programming language will exist in 100 years, and how his Viaweb startup created the first Web-based application. Although each chapter can be digested alone without the others, together they form a well-rounded view of the many worlds that are taking place beneath the surface of our language, our computers, and our culture.

Why We Like This Book
Hackers & Painters goes beyond personal memoir and business handbook, landing at a more unique place where personal and business experiences combine, providing the perfect canvas on which to paint clear directions for those managing hackers, and the hackers themselves. Full of positive advice and leadership tips, Graham offers his readers a road map to the computerized future. Copyright © 2005 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Soundview Executive Book Summaries