Hackers & Painters

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Hackers & Painters

Big Ideas from the Computer Age

By: Paul Graham
Publisher:: O'Reilly Media
Released:: May 2004
Pages:: 272

Description

Written in clear, narrative style, Hackers & Painters examines issues such as the rightness of web-based applications, the programming language renaissance, spam filtering, the Open Source Movement, internet startups and more. In each essay, Graham moves beyond widely held beliefs about the way that programmers work as he tells important stories about the kinds of people behind tech innovations, revealing distinctions about their characters and their craft. No hackers reading this book will fail to recognize themselves within these pages. No programmer will put it down without new thoughts actively percolating.

Full Description

"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.

And here's a taste of what you'll find in Hackers & Painters:

"In most fields the great work is done early on. The paintings made between 1430 and 1500 are still unsurpassed. Shakespeare appeared just as professional theater was being born, and pushed the medium so far that every playwright since has had to live in his shadow. Albrecht Durer did the same thing with engraving, and Jane Austen with the novel.

Over and over we see the same pattern. A new medium appears, and people are so excited about it that they explore most of its possibilities in the first couple generations. Hacking seems to be in this phase now.

Painting was not, in Leonardo's time, as cool as his work helped make it. How cool hacking turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium."

Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the Macintosh computer, says about Hackers & Painters: "Paul Graham is a hacker, painter and a terrific writer. His lucid, humorous prose is brimming with contrarian insight and practical wisdom on writing great code at the intersection of art, science and commerce."

Paul Graham, designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. In addition to his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, Graham also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Why Nerds Are Unpopular
Chapter 2 Hackers and Painters
Chapter 3 What You Can't Say
1. The Conformist Test
2. Trouble
3. Heresy
4. Time and Space
5. Prigs
6. Mechanism
7. Why
8. Pensieri Stretti
9. Viso Sciolto?
10. Always Be Questioning
Chapter 4 Good Bad Attitude
Chapter 5 The Other Road Ahead
1. The Next Thing?
2. The Win for Users
3. City of Code
4. Releases
5. Bugs
6. Support
7. Morale
8. Brooks in Reverse
9. Watching Users
10. Money
11. Customers
12. Son of Server
13. Microsoft
14. Startups but More So
15. Just Good Enough
16. Why Not?
Chapter 6 How to Make Wealth
1. The Proposition
2. Millions, not Billions
3. Money Is Not Wealth
4. The Pie Fallacy
5. Craftsmen
6. What a Job Is
7. Working Harder
8. Measurement and Leverage
9. Smallness = Measurement
10. Technology = Leverage
11. The Catch(es)
12. Get Users
13. Wealth and Power
Chapter 7 Mind the Gap
1. The Daddy Model of Wealth
2. Stealing It
3. The Lever of Technology
4. Alternative to an Axiom
Chapter 8 A Plan for Spam
Chapter 9 Taste for Makers
Chapter 10 Programming Languages Explained
1. Machine Language
2. High-Level Languages
3. Open Source
4. Language Wars
5. Abstractness
6. Seat Belts or Handcuffs?
7. OO
8. Renaissance
Chapter 11 The Hundred-Year Language
Chapter 12 Beating the Averages
1. The Secret Weapon
2. The Blub Paradox
3. Aikido for Startups
Chapter 13 Revenge of the Nerds
1. Catching Up with Math
2. What Made Lisp Different
3. Where Languages Matter
4. Centripetal Forces
5. The Cost of Being Average
6. A Recipe
7. Appendix: Power
Chapter 14 The Dream Language
1. The Mechanics of Popularity
2. External Factors
3. Succinctness
4. Hackability
5. Throwaway Programs
6. Libraries
7. Efficiency
8. Time
9. Redesign
10. The Dream Language
Chapter 15 Design and Research

Appendix Notes
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
Glossary

Product Details

Title:

Hackers & Painters

By:

Paul Graham

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Ebook
Safari Books Online

Print Release:

May 2004

Ebook Release:

July 2008

Pages:

272

Print ISBN:

978-0-596-00662-4

| ISBN 10:

0-596-00662-4

Ebook ISBN:

978-0-596-15307-6

| ISBN 10:

0-596-15307-4

Customer Reviews

About the Author

Paul Graham

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.

View Paul Graham's full profile page.

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O'Reilly Books & Videos

Hackers & Painters

Big Ideas from the Computer Age

Chapter 1 Why Nerds Are Unpopular

Chapter 2 Hackers and Painters

Chapter 3 What You Can't Say

The Conformist Test

Trouble

Heresy

Time and Space

Prigs

Mechanism

Why

Pensieri Stretti

Viso Sciolto?

Always Be Questioning

Chapter 4 Good Bad Attitude

Chapter 5 The Other Road Ahead

The Next Thing?

The Win for Users

City of Code

Releases

Bugs

Support

Morale

Brooks in Reverse

Watching Users

Money

Customers

Son of Server

Microsoft

Startups but More So

Just Good Enough

Why Not?

Chapter 6 How to Make Wealth

The Proposition

Millions, not Billions

Money Is Not Wealth

The Pie Fallacy

Craftsmen

What a Job Is

Working Harder

Measurement and Leverage

Smallness = Measurement

Technology = Leverage

The Catch(es)

Get Users

Wealth and Power

Chapter 7 Mind the Gap

The Daddy Model of Wealth

Stealing It

The Lever of Technology

Alternative to an Axiom

Chapter 8 A Plan for Spam

Chapter 9 Taste for Makers

Chapter 10 Programming Languages Explained

Machine Language

High-Level Languages

Open Source

Language Wars

Abstractness

Seat Belts or Handcuffs?

OO

Renaissance

Chapter 11 The Hundred-Year Language

Chapter 12 Beating the Averages

The Secret Weapon

The Blub Paradox

Aikido for Startups

Chapter 13 Revenge of the Nerds

Catching Up with Math

What Made Lisp Different

Where Languages Matter

Centripetal Forces

The Cost of Being Average

A Recipe

Appendix: Power

Chapter 14 The Dream Language

The Mechanics of Popularity

External Factors