Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy. The former chief technology correspondent for Newsweek, today Steven is an editor at Wired and author of eight books including Crypto, which won the Frankfurt ebook award for best non-fiction book of 2001.
So, the best way to introduce this release from 1984 is to simply define the term Hacker as ‘a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means.’
How times have certainly changed. Today popular culture has certainly morphed this term into someone who is able to subvert computer security for malicious purposes. This person should be more accurate defined as a cyber criminal. Needless to say there is a big difference since it will surprise many to discover the first computer game was written in 1961.
In fact, Steve provides a historical view of hackers dating back to 1946. At MIT, an on-camps model railroad club, the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) was the first hacker club in America.
Indeed, a model railroad club on campus allowed talented introverts access to a locked room to construct HO scale railroad layouts. This makes the model railroading of my childhood seem like Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz.
The birth of hacking
The TMRC student club actually established a Signals and Power Subcommittee. Students would work on the railroad’s layout adjusting, fixing or creating relays, switches, and wiring. In fact, the TMRC even established a student “Midnight Requisitioning Committee” that would obtained parts for the club outside of MIT’s procurement office. Their interest would only grow as the TMRC acquired an early TX-0 and soon afterward a PDP-1 computer. These systems provided students with the ability to create computer peripherals, graphic displays and even music.
Do not forget about the war industry
The MIT students were dedicated to creative, ‘hacker’ activities that solved problems or challenges. Yet it would lead to the corruption of their club when the US military began funding their lab. Do not overlook the role of US Government funding MIT and other colleges during World War II. This launched the idea of a hacker ethic since the war in Vietnam was the target of this lab’s developments. Do not forget that DARPA flew drones over the Gulf of Tonkin in 1963.
The original East Coast–West Coast rivalry
In addition, Steven pivots west to Berkeley and Stanford to discover how this group of hackers would pickup the MIT work and commercialize it. He outlines the formation of the Homebrew Computing Club. It would be a group at Berkeley that would develop the first music synthesizer.
Above all, the West coast hackers would begin scaling down computers from the giant TX-0 and PDP-1 at MIT (which required their own air conditioning systems) to micro logic boards. Perhaps the stories of HomeBrew members simply bartering early CPU chips and memory modules would lead to the Altair 8800. This is where Steve Woziak, while working at HP would show up to buy parts and exchange ideas. Needless to say the launch of the PC would soon follow.
In conclusion, Steven writes a very compelling book. Now almost 40 years since publication, this should be required reading for anyone working with information technology. Well written and very revealing.