How to become a hacker Eric S. Raymond

Eric S. Raymond how to become a hacker How to become a hacker Copyright 2001 by Eric S. Raymond Translation: Barret The translation level is limited. Thank you for your advice. My email is Barret (a) ynmail.com, but do not ask questions about computer technology (I don't understand it anyway ). Reproduction of non-commercial purposes is allowed without the consent of the author and the translator, but the integrity of the original document must be maintained. Overview Why is there this document? What is a hacker? Hacker's attitude Basic hacker skills Position in hacker culture Connection between hackers and nerd Significance of style Other resources FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Why is there this document? As an editor of jargon file and author of some other famous similar articles, I often receive emails from enthusiastic online beginners (indeed) "How can I become a good hacker?" It is very strange that there seems to be no FAQ or Web documents to illustrate this very important issue, so I wrote a copy. If you are currently reading offline copies of this document, please note that the latest version (English version) in http://www.tuxedo.org /~ The hacker-howto.html can be obtained. Note: At the end of this document, there are FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions ). Please read this document twice before giving me any questions. At present, this document has many translated versions: polygalic, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish. Note that this document has been revised, so the translation versions above may be outdated to varying degrees. What is a hacker? Jargon file contains a lot of definitions about the term "hacker", most of which are related to superb technology and willingness to solve problems and surpass the limit. But if you only want to know howBecomeOne hacker has only two things to do. This can be traced back to the birth of the first time-sharing mini computer decades ago, and the ARPANET experiment was just launched. At that time, there was a program design expert and a network celebrity, cultural Communities with sharing characteristics. Members of this culture have created the term "hacker. Hackers have established the internet. Hackers have invented the current UNIX operating system. Hackers make Usenet work, and hackers make WWW work. If you are part of this culture, if you contribute to this culture, and other members of this community know you and call you a hacker, then you are a hacker. The hacker spirit is not limited to the hacker culture of software. Someone treats other things with hackers' attitudes, such as electronics and music-in fact, you can discover it at any level of scientific and artistic activity. Software-savvy hackers appreciate these similar products in other fields and call them hackers-some people claim that hackers are absolutely independent of the specific areas in which they work. However, in this document, we focus on the technology and attitude of software hackers and the cultural traditions that feature sharing that invented the term "hacker. A group of people shouted that they were hackers, but they were not. They (mostly young teenagers) are people who deliberately damage computer and telephone systems. Hackers call these people "Cracker" and do not bother with it. Most real hackers think that hackers are too lazy and irresponsible to do anything. The behavior specifically aimed at undermining others' security does not make you a hacker, just as stealing a car with wire does not make you a car engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers often mistakenly treat "hackers" as hackers, which have always annoyed real hackers. The fundamental difference is that hackers are engaged in construction and hacking. If you want to be a hacker, read it. If you want to be a hacker, read the alt.2600 newsgroup, and realize that you are not as smart as you think, then go to five to ten jail times. I just want to say so much about hackers. Hacker's attitude Hackers solve problems and build things, while advocating free and selfless two-way help. If you want to be recognized as a hacker by others, your behaviors seem to show that you have such an attitude. If you want to do a good job like you have such an attitude, you have to stick to it. However, if you think that cultivating hacker attitudes is only a way to be recognized in the hacker culture circle, it would be a big mistake. Become a person with these qualitiesYourselfIt is very important-it helps you learn and provides you with continuous motivation. Like all creative art, the most effective way to become a master is to imitate the spirit of the master-not only in intelligence, but also in emotion. Perhaps, the following modern Zen Poems explain this meaning well: To follow the path :( follow this path :) Look to the master ,) Follow the master, (follow Master ,) Walk with the master, (pass with the master ,) See through the master, (Insight master ,) Become the master. (become a master .) Well, if you want to be a hacker, read the following things until you believe them: 1. The world is full of fascinating issues to be resolved. Being a hacker has a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of effort to get fun. These efforts require motivation. Successful athletes get motivation from the pleasure of exercising and exceeding their limits. Similarly, as a hacker, you have to have basic fun solving problems, honing your skills, and exercising your intelligence. If you are not a natural hacker and want to be a hacker, you must try to become such a hacker. Otherwise, you will find that your hackers' enthusiasm will be swallowed up by other distracting things, such as money, sex, and social virtual names. (Similarly, you must build confidence in your own learning abilities-believe that, even if you have almost no idea about a problem, as long as you experiment and study at 1.1 points, you will eventually master and solve it .) 2. A problem should not be solved twice. Smart heads are precious and limited resources. When the world is still filled with a lot of interesting new problems to be solved, they should not be wasted on re-inventing things like wheel. As a hacker, you must believe that the time for other hackers to think is precious. Therefore, sharing information, solving problems, and publishing results to other hackers is almost moral, in this way, other people can solve the problem.NewInstead of constantly dealing with old problems. (You Don't Have To think you mustAllThe invention and creation were announced, but the hackers who did so were the ones who earned everyone's utmost respect. Selling money to support your family, renting a house, buying a computer, or even making a fortune is also compatible with hacking values, as long as you don't forget you are a hacker .) 3. Boring and boring work is evil. Hackers (generally creative people) should never be troubled by stupid repetitive labor, because when this happens, it means they are not doing what they can only do-to solve new problems. This waste hurts everyone. Therefore, boring and boring work is not only uncomfortable, but also evil. As a hacker, you must firmly believe this and automate as much boring work as possible, not only for yourself, but also for others (especially other hackers ). (This is an obvious exception. Hackers sometimes do repetitive or boring work in the eyes of others for "mental rest", or to acquire certain skills or special experience that is not otherwise available. But this is voluntary-people with brains should not be forced to do boring work .) 4. Long live freedom. Hackers are born Anti-authoritarian. Anyone who can send commands to you can force you to stop solving the problems you are fascinated by. At the same time, according to the general idea of the dictatorship, he usually gives some extreme ignorance reasons. Therefore, wherever it is, any authoritarian practice, as long as it oppress you and other hackers, you will fight against it to the end. (This is not a challenge to all authorities. Children need to be monitored and criminals need to be taken care. If the command is executed to get something that saves more time than other methods, hackers can agree to accept some form of authority. However, this is a limited and intentional transaction. The kind of obedience that the Authority wants is not what you should agree .) The Authority prefers review and confidentiality. They do not trust voluntary cooperation and information sharing-they only like the so-called "cooperation" controlled by them ". Therefore, as a hacker, you have to have an instinctive hostility towards censorship, confidentiality, and the use of force or deception to oppress people with the ability to do so. At the same time, you must be willing to fight for this belief. 5. Attitudes cannot replace abilities. As a hacker, you must cultivate these attitudes. But with these attitudes alone, you cannot be either a hacker or a sports player or rock star. Being a hacker requires intelligence, practice, dedication, and hard work. Therefore, you must learn to doubt and respect all kinds of abilities. Hackers will not waste their time on modeling people, but they are very respectful of capabilities-especially the ability to engage in hacker work, but all of them are good. It is especially good to have the abilities that few people can possess. Of course, it is best to have the abilities that involve mental power, skills, and focus. Dear ability, you will enjoy the pleasure of improving your abilities-hard work and dedication will become a high degree of entertainment rather than a hard job. It is important to become a hacker. Basic hacker skills Hacker attitude is important, but technology is more important. Attitude cannot replace technology. Before you are called a hacker by other hackers, you must master some basic technologies. These basic technologies are slowly changing with the emergence of new technologies and the expiry of old technologies. For example, in the past, the content included programming in machine language, and HTML was not included until recently. In general, the following technologies are mainly involved: 1. Learn how to program. This is of course the most basic hacker skill. If you do not have any programming languages, I suggest you start with python. It has clear design and complete documentation, and is suitable for beginners. It is a good entry language and not just a toy. It is very powerful, flexible, and suitable for large-scale projects. I have a python review to describe this in detail. A good tutorial can be found on the python website. A good Chinese Python site may be http://pythonrecord.51.net .) Java is also a good entry language. It is much harder to use than python, but the generated code is much faster. It is also an excellent computer language, not just for entry. However, if you only use one or two languages, you will not be able to meet the technical level required by hackers, it cannot even reach the level of a programmer-you need to learn how to think about programming problems in an abstract way, independent of any language. To be a real hacker, you need to learn to use some manuals within a few days to quickly master a new language based on what you know. This means you should learn several completely different languages. If you want to do some important programming work, you will have to learn the C language and Unix core language. C ++ is very similar to C. If you know one of them, it is not difficult to learn the other. However, these two types are not suitable for Programming beginners. In fact, the more you avoid using C programming, the more efficient you will be. C is very efficient and saves your machine resources. Unfortunately, the efficiency of C is achieved by manually doing a lot of underlying management (such as memory. The underlying code is complex and prone to bugs, which will make you spend a lot of time debugging. Today's machines are so fast, which is usually not worth the candle-it is wise to use a method that is slow and inefficient,LargeLanguage that saves your time. Therefore, select python. Other important languages for hackers include Perl and lisp. Perl is practical and worth learning. It is widely used in dynamic web pages and system management. Therefore, even if you never use Perl to write programs, you should at least learn it. Many people use Perl for the same reason as I suggest you use python, to avoid using C to do jobs that do not require C efficiency. You will need to understand the code of those jobs. The reason for learning lisp is different-you will get a wealth of inspiration and experience when you finally master it. These experiences will make you a better programmer in the days to come, even if you rarely use lisp itself. Of course, in fact, you 'd better use five types (Python, Java, C/C ++, Perl, and lisp ). Apart from being the most important hacker language, they also represent completely different programming ideas and methods, each of which will benefit you a lot. Here I cannot give you complete guidance on how to program-this is a complex skill. But I can tell you that books and classes cannot be done either (among the best hackers, there are many, maybeAlmostAre self-developed ). You can learn the characteristics of language from books-just a little bit, but to make written knowledge into your own skills, you can only learn from others through practice and modestly. Therefore(1) read the codeAnd(2) write code. Learning how to program is just like learning to write in beautiful natural languages. The best practice is to read some famous masters and try to write something by yourself. Then, read something, then read something, and then write something ...... So forth until your article reaches the conciseness and strength of the model you have experienced. In the past, it was difficult to find the code suitable for reading, because there was almost no source code for large programs that could allow beginners to practice. This situation has changed dramatically; open source software, programming tools, and operating systems (all written by hackers) are now everywhere. Let's continue to discuss in the next topic ...... 2. Get an open-source Unix and learn to use and run it. I suppose you already have or can use a PC (today's children are so happy ). The most basic step for beginners to learn hacking skills is to get a Linux or BSD-Unix package, install it on a PC, and run it. Yes, there are other operating systems in the world except UNIX. But they are all released in binary form-you cannot read its source code or modify it. Trying to learn hacker technology on a computer running dos, windows, or MACOs is like dancing with your feet. In addition, UNIX is an Internet Operating System. You can learn to access the Internet without knowing UNIX, but you cannot become an internet hacker without knowing UNIX. Therefore, today's hacker culture is largely Unix-centric. (This is not always true. Some long-time hackers have been unhappy with this, but the connection between UNIX and the Internet is so strong that even Microsoft is helpless .) So install a set of Unix-I personally love Linux, but there are other types (yes, youYesInstall Linux and DOS/windows on the same computer ). Learn it, use it, and configure it. Use it to surf the Internet. Read its source code. Modify its source code. You will get better programming tools (including C, lisp, Python, and Perl) than Microsoft operating systems ). You will feel a lot of fun and learn more than you can realize before you become a master. For more information about UNIX, visit the loginataka. I want to know how to get a copy of Linux and where to access Linux. (TRANSLATOR: for Chinese readers, the simplest way is not to go to a nearby D/genuine disc store .) You can find bsd unix help and other resources at http://www.bsd.org. I have written an article on UNIX and Internet basics. (Note: If you are a newbie, I do not recommend that you install Linux or BSD independently. To install Linux, contact the local Linux User Group or open projects network. LISC maintains some IRC channels, where you can get help .) 3. Learn how to use WWW and write HTML Most of the things built by hacker culture play a role where you cannot see them, helping factories, offices, and universities run normally. On the surface, it is hard to see the impact of these things on the lives of non-hacker ordinary people. Web is a big exception. EvenPoliticiansWe also agree that this dazzling hacking toy is changing the whole world. For this reason alone (there are many other reasons), you need to learn about the web. This does not only mean how to use a browser (anyone can), but also how to write HTML and web markup language. If you don't program, writing HTML will teach you some habits that help you learn. Therefore, first complete a home page. (There are many good tutorials on the Internet; this is one .) However, only one home page cannot make you a hacker. Web pages are full of web pages. Most of them are meaningless, and there is no amount of information garbage-the interface is fashionable garbage. Note that the garbage level is similar (for more information, visit the HTML hell page ). To have value, Your webpage must haveContent-- It must be interesting or helpful to other hackers. This is what is involved in the next topic ...... 4. If you do not understand practical English, study. As an American and a native English speaker, I was reluctant to mention this before, so as not to become a cultural imperialism. However, many people who use other languages have always advised me to point out that English is the language of hacker culture and Internet. You need to know how to work in the hacker community. This is indeed true. In about 1991, I learned that many hackers used English in technical discussions. Even when their mother tongue was the same, English was only a second language for them; as I know, at present, English has much richer technical terms than other languages, so it is a good tool for work. For a similar reason, the translation of English technical books is usually unsatisfactory (if any ). Linus Torvalds, a Finnish, commented out his code in English (obviously this is not a coincidence for him ). His fluent English has become an important factor in his ability to manage the global community of Linux developers. This is an example worth learning. Position in hacker culture Like most cultures that do not involve money, the hacker Kingdom operates by reputation. You try to solve interesting problems, but how interesting they are, how good your solutions are, it is determined by those who have the same technical skills as you or who are more powerful than you. Correspondingly, when you are playing a hacking game, you must realize that your score is primarily based on the comments of other hackers on your technology (that is why you are considered a hacker only when other hackers call you a hacker ). This fact is often weakened by the impression that hackers are working alone, and by the taboos of another hacker culture (which is gradually weakened but still powerful ): denial of self or external evaluation is related to a person's motivation. In particular, the hacker kingdom is calledDedication culture.Here, you do not rely on your dominance of others to establish your status and fame, nor on your beauty or possession of what others want, but on your dedication. In particular, you are dedicated to your time, your creation, and your technical achievements. To be respected by other hackers, you can do the following five things: 1. Write open source software The first (and most concentrated and traditional) is to write programs that are considered interesting or useful by other hackers and provide the program source code to the whole hacker culture. (We used to call it "Free Software", but this confused many people who do not know the exact meaning of "Free Software. Currently, many of us use the word "open-source" software (Open Source Software) to analyze the content of a search engine webpage at least ). The most respected idol in the hacker kingdom is those who write large, useful, and widely used software and publish them so that everyone is using their software. 2. Help test and debug open source software Hackers also respect those who use and test open source software. In this not perfect world, we will inevitably spend most of our development time in the debugging phase. That's why any thoughtful open-source author will tell your beta tester (know how to clearly describe the symptoms of errors, locate errors well, and tolerate bugs in quick releases, and willing to use some simple diagnostic tools) as precious as Ruby. Even one of them can determine which test phase is extended, which is an exhausting nightmare, and which is just a beneficial little trouble. If you are a newbie, try to find a program you are interested in and be a good beta tester. You will naturally help test, progress, catch bugs, and finally change the program. You will learn a lot from it and establish friendship with those who will help you in the future. 3. Publish useful information Another good thing is to collect and organize useful and interesting information into webpages or documents such as FAQ lists and make them easy to get. The maintainers of Major Technical FAQ are almost as respected as the authors of other open source code. 4. helps maintain the Operation of infrastructure Hacker culture (and the development of Internet Engineering, In this regard) depends on volunteers. To make the Internet work normally, a lot of boring work has to be done-managing mail lists, newsgroups, maintaining large software libraries, developing RFC and other technical standards. People who do such things will have a lot of respect, because everyone knows that these things are very time-consuming and not as fun as programming. Dedication is required to do these things. 5. Serve the hacker culture itself Finally, you can publicize the culture itself (for example, write a positive tutorial on "How to Become a hacker" like me: I don't know if Barret converts it into Chinese. Isn't it ?). This does not have to be done after you have been in this circle for a long time, because you are famous for a certain point in the above four points and have a certain reputation. Hacker culture has no leaders. Specifically, it does have some cultural heroes, tribal elders, historian and spokesman. If you are long enough in this circle, you may become one of them. Remember: hackers do not trust the boast of their elders, so it is dangerous to pursue this reputation. Rather than striving for it, you should first adjust your position and wait for it to come to your own hands-then you must be modest and elegant. Connection between hackers and nerd Contrary to the popular myth, being a hacker doesn't have to make you a nerd. But it does help, and many hackers are actually nerd. Being a simple person helps you focus on important things, such as thinking and programming. Therefore, many hackers are willing to accept the nickname "nerd". What's more, they use the more acute "geek) it is a way of declaring their independence from the mainstream society. Visit the geek page for more discussions. It would be nice if you could concentrate enough energy on hacking work and still have a normal life. This is much easier than when I was a newbie in the 1970 s. Today, mainstream cultures are much more friendly to tech geeks. More and more people even realize that hackers are usually good materials for lovers and spouses. If you are addicted to hacking because your life is not satisfactory-at least you will not be distracted. Maybe you will find your other half in the future. Significance of style To reiterate, as a hacker, you must enter the hacker spirit. When you are not on the computer side, you still have a lot of things that can help the hacker's work. They cannot replace real programming (nothing), but many hackers do that and feel that they have some basic connections with the nature of hackers. Learn to write smoothly in your mother tongue. Despite the fact that programmers cannot write a good article, the misconceptions are quite common, but the surprising number of hackers (including all the best I know) are good writers. Read sci-fi novels. Participate in science fiction seminars. (A good way to deal with hackers and those who will become hackers in the future) Learn Zen and/or practice martial arts. (Spiritual Cultivation seems surprisingly similar .) You can analyze the hearing of music and learn to appreciate special music. Learn to play or sing. Improve the appreciation ability of games with punwords and texts. The more you have done these things, the more you are born to be a hacker. The reason for these issues is not completely clear, but they all involve the synthesis of left-right brain capabilities. This seems to be the key (hackers need clear logical thinking, sometimes it is necessary to deviate from the appearance of a logical jump out of the problem ). Finally, there are someNoWhat to do. Do not use stupid, pop-up IDs or nicknames. Do not get involved in Usenet (or other forums. Do not call it cyberpunk, or waste time dealing with those people. Do not fill your email or post with incorrect spelling and messy syntax. To do the above, we will only get ridicule. Hackers have extraordinary memories-it will take several years for them to forget your mistakes. The problem of network names is worth pondering. Hiding identities behind fake names is the childish and stupid behavior of hackers, Decryptors, d00dz, and other lower-level creatures. Hackers will not do these things; they are proud of what they do and are willing to share their work with theirTrue. Therefore, if you use a pseudonym now, give up on it. In the hacker culture, it will make you fail. Other resources Peter seebach maintains a very good hacker FAQ for managers who do not know how to deal with hackers. If Peter's site cannot be accessed, the following excite search should have a copy. I am also writingA Brief History of hacker culture. I wrote a copy.Cathedral and MarketFor Linux and open source code culture. I will also elaborate on the outcome on this topic --Develop a smart domain. Rick moen wrote a good document on how to run a Linux user group. I have worked with Rick moen to complete another smart article on asking questions, which can help you get twice the result with half the effort. If you want to know the basic concepts and working principles of PC, UNIX, and Internet, refer to the Unix and Internet fundamentals howto. When you release a software or patch it, try to do it according to the software release practice howto. (Most of the Chinese versions of the above mentioned articles can be found at www.aka.org.cn and www.linuxforum.net .) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Q: Can you teach me how to be a hacker? Q: How can I start? Q: When can I start learning? Will it be too late now? Q: How long will it take to learn hacker information? Q: Is Visual Basic and Delphi A good introductory language? Q: Can you "black" a site for me? Or teach me how to blacklist it? Q: How can I get the password of another account? Q: How can I intrude/View/monitor others' emails? Q: How can I steal channel op privileges in IRC chat rooms? Q: I am hacked. Can you help me avoid further attacks? Q: My Windows software has a problem. Can you help me? Q: Where can I find a real hacker who can communicate with me? Q: Can you recommend some good books about hackers? Q: Do I need to be good at mathematics to become a hacker? Q: What kind of linguistics should I start? Q: What kind of machine configuration do I need? Q: Do I have to hate and oppose Microsoft? Q: but will open-source software make programmers lose their jobs? Q: How do I start? Where is free UNIX? Q: Can you teach me how to be a hacker? A:Since I published this document for the first time, I have received some requests every week (several times a day frequently) Asking me to "teach them to be hackers ". Unfortunately, I don't have the time and energy to do this. My own hacking project and my travels as an open source code advocate have taken up 110% of my time. Even if I want to teach you, hackers are still basically a self-developed attitude and technology. When a real hacker wants to help you, if you beg them to "Feed" you with a spoon, you will find that they will not respect you. Learn something first. It shows that you are trying and you can learn by yourself. Then ask your hacker special questions. If you send an e-mail to a hacker for help, this is the first thing to remember. First, the written text is very lazy and careless. People are usually very lazy in thinking and cannot be good hackers-so pay attention to correct spelling and Use Correct syntax and pronunciation, otherwise, you may ignore it. Second, do notTryYou must reply to an ISP account, which is different from your mail address. In this case, accounts are stolen and no one is interested in helping thieves. Q: How can I start? A:The best way to get started is to join a lug (Linux User Group) party. You can find similar organizations on the integrated Linux information page of LDP; maybe there is one near your home, and it is very likely to be linked to a university or school. If you make a request, lug members may give you a set of Linux. Of course, it will help you install and get started. Q: When can I start learning? Will it be too late now? A:It is a good time for you to learn with motivation. Most people seem to be interested between the ages of 15 and 20, but as far as I know, there are exceptions beyond this age group. Q: How long will it take to learn hacker information? A:It depends on your intelligence and effort. Most people can learn a set of respectable skills from 18 months to 2 years as long as they are focused. However, do not think it is over. If you are a real hacker, you will spend the rest of your life learning and improving your technology. Q: Is Visual Basic and Delphi A good introductory language? A:No, because they are not portable. They are not open source implementation of those languages, so you are restricted to those platforms supported by vendors. Accepting such a monopoly is not a hacker's attitude. Visual Basic is particularly bad. It is Microsoft's private language. This fact is enough to make it face-less. Unlike other basic, It is a poorly designed language that will teach you bad programming habits. One bad habit is that it relies on libraries, controls, and development tools of a single vendor. Generally, any language that does not support at least Linux, one type of BSD, or other third-party operating systems is not suitable for dealing with hackers. Q: Can you "black" a site for me? Or teach me how to blacklist it? A:No. Anyone who asks this question after reading this FAQ is helpless. Even if I have time to give advice, I will ignore it. Any emails sent to me will be ignored or scolded. Q: How can I get the password of another account? A:This is hacker behavior. Go far, idiot. Q: How can I intrude/View/monitor others' emails? A:This is hacker behavior. Disappear in front of me, bastard. Q: How can I steal channel op privileges in IRC chat rooms? A:This is hacker behavior. Go to S, stubborn guy. Q: I am hacked. Can you help me avoid further attacks? A:No. So far, every time you ask me this question, there are some cainiao running Microsoft Windows. It is impossible to effectively protect the Windows system from hacker attacks; too many flawed code and architecture make windows protection effort as easily as possible. The only reliable precaution comes from migrating to Linux or other systems that are designed to be at least secure. Q: My Windows software has a problem. Can you help me? A:Of course. Enter the DOS mode, and then type "format C :". Any problems you encounter will disappear in a few minutes. Q: Where can I find a real hacker who can communicate with me? A:The best way is to find a Unix or Linux User Group nearby to attend their party. (You can find some links to user groups on the metalab LDP site .) I used to say that I could not find a real hacker on IRC, but I found that the current situation has changed. Apparently, some real hacker communities, such as Gimp and Perl, also have IRC channels .) Q: Can you recommend some good books about hackers? A:I maintain a Linux reading list howto, which may be useful to you. Loginataka is also very interesting. For details about Python, visit the Getting Started documentation on the python site. Q: Do I need to be good at mathematics to become a hacker? A:No. Hackers seldom use regular mathematics or arithmetic, but you absolutely need to think logically and perform precise reasoning. In particular, you don't need calculus or circuit analysis (we leave this to our electronic engineers :-)). Some background knowledge of finite Mathematics (including Boolean algebra, set theory, composite mathematics, and graph theory) is helpful. Q: What kind of linguistics should I start? A:HTML -- if you do not understand. There are a lot of beautiful covers on the market, and they are being publicized.BadUnfortunately, there are few good HTML books. What I like most isHTML: the definitive guide. However, HTML is not completely a programming language. When you are about to start programming, I recommend you start with python. You will hear a large group of people recommending Perl, and Perl is still much more popular than python, but it is much harder to learn and (in my opinion) not well designed. C is really important, but it is much harder than Python or Perl. Do not try to learn C first. Windows usersNoMeets the requirements of Visual Basic. It will teach you bad habits, and it cannot be transplanted and can only run in windows. Avoid it. Q: What kind of machine configuration do I need? A:In the past, personal computers were not capable enough and the memory was small. As a result, artificial barriers were set for the hacker's learning process. However, this was not the case some time ago. Any machine with better configurations than an Intel 486dx50 server has sufficient capabilities for development, communication between x and the Internet, at the same time, the smallest disk you have bought is very large. (According to Barret, at least Pentium 166mmx is enough now .) When selecting a machine for learning, it is important to check whether the accessories are Linux compatible (or BSD compatible, if you choose to learn BSD ). As mentioned earlier, most current machines are compatible. The only area worth noting is the modem and printer. Some machines with Windows accessories do not work in Linux. For more information about hardware compatibility, see the latest version. Q: Do I have to hate and oppose Microsoft? A:No, you don't have. Not because Microsoft is not annoying, but because the hacker culture exists as early as Microsoft's appearance and will still exist after Microsoft becomes a historical one. If you hate Microsoft, it's better to love your technology than to hate Microsoft. Write the code-it will be very effective against Microsoft and won't let you get evil retribution. Q: but will open-source software make programmers lose their jobs? A:It seems unlikely-so far, the open source software industry seems to have created more job opportunities rather than reducing job opportunities. If writing a program is a pure economic benefit than not writing it, after writing it, the programmer should be paid whether the program is open source code or not. Moreover, no matter how "free and free" software is written, there are more requirements for new and customized software. I have discussed this more in open-source website materials. Q: How do I start? Where is free UNIX? A:Somewhere in this document, I have mentioned where to get the most commonly used free UNIX. To be a hacker, you must be self-reliant and self-taught. Start now ......