A concise summation of it can be found in Steven Levy's 1984 book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Levy suggested that because of their Ethic and their unconventional style, hackers like Jobs and Wozniak were able to launch the "computer revolution," resulting in the first personal computer (the Apple) which was easy to use and which put programming power in the individual's hands. Here I cite documents from my sample which reiterate some of its principles.


The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker ethic is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share technical tricks, software, and (where possible) computing resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as Usenet, FidoNet and the Internet itself can function without central control because of this trait; they both rely on and reinforce a sense of community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset.



cooperation




 The idea of a "hacker ethic" is perhaps best formulated in Steven Levy's 1984 book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Levy came up with six tenets:

   1. Access to computers - and anything which might teach you omething about the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-On imperative!

   2. All information should be free.

   3. Mistrust authority - promote decentralization.

   4. Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degress, age, race, or position.

   5. You can create art and beauty on a computer.

   6. Computers can change your life for the better.