There is a shared community and culture of programmers and networking experts that historically dates back decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest experiments of the ARPAnet. Members of this community were the first “hackers”. Entering computer and telephone systems has become a symbol of hacking in today's culture, but these communities are far more complex and express morality than most people know. Here's how to find your way into the complex world of hacking.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Learn Basic Hacking Skills
Step 1. Run Unix
Unix is an operating system from the Internet. While you can learn to use the Internet without knowing about Unix, you can't be a hacker without knowing about Unix. For this reason, today's hacker community is very Unix-centric. A Unix like Linux can run alongside Microsoft Windows on the same computer. Download Linux online or find a local Linux user group to help you with the installation.
- A great way to start trying is with what Linux enthusiasts call a live CD, a distribution that runs entirely from CD without having to change your hard disk. It's a way to see something new without having to do anything drastic.
- There are other operating systems besides Unix, but they are distributed in binary – you can't read the code, and you can't change it. Trying to learn how to hack a Microsoft Windows computer or other closed source code system is like trying to learn how to dance while wearing a plaster cast.
- Linux can run on Mac OS X, but only part of that system is open source – you're likely to run into a lot of trouble, and you'll have to be careful not to develop the bad habit of depending on Apple's proprietary code.
Step 2. Write HTML
If you don't know how to program, it's important to learn basic HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML) and slowly build your skills. What you see when you look at the images and design components on a website, they are all coded using HTML. For a project, start learning how to create a basic start page and work your way up from there.
- In your browser, open the page source information to look at the HTML for an example. Click Web Developer > Page Source in Firefox and take a moment to look at the code.
- You can write HTML in a basic word processing program like Notepad or SimpleText and save your file as “text only”, so you can upload it to your browser and see your page translated.
- You have to learn to know the format of tags (labels) and learn to think visually using tags. The “” sign is used as a closing. The "<p>" is used as a line opening code in paragraphs. You'll use tags to represent anything visual: italics, formatting, colors, and so on. Learning HTML will help you understand better how the Internet works.
Step 3. Learn programming languages
Before you start writing rhymes, you must learn basic grammar. Before breaking the rules, you have to learn the rules. But if your ultimate goal is to become a hacker, you'll need more than basic English to write your masterpiece.
- Python is a great “language” to start with because it is cleanly designed, well-documented, and relatively easy for beginners. Despite being a great first language, Python is more than just a toy; but very strong, flexible, and suitable for large projects. Java is an alternative, but its value as the first programming language has been questioned.
- If you are serious about programming, you should learn, the core language of Unix. C++ is very closely related to C; if you know one, learning the other won't be difficult. C is very efficient with your computer's resources, but will take up a large amount of your time debugging (following the flow of the program) and is often avoided for that reason, unless the efficiency of your computer is critical.
Method 2 of 3: Think Like A Hacker
Step 1. Think creatively
Now that you have the basic skills, you can start thinking about art. Hackers are like artists, philosophers, and engineers all rolled into one. They believe in freedom and shared responsibility. The world is full of interesting problems waiting to be solved. Hackers enjoy solving problems, sharpening their skills, and exercising their intelligence.
- Hackers have a diversity of interests culturally and intellectually, beyond hacking. Work as hard as play, and play as hard as work. For the true hacker, the boundaries between “play”, “work”, “science”, and “art” all tend to disappear, or merge into a state of creative playfulness at a high level.
- Read science fiction. Go to sci-fi conventions, which are a great way to meet hackers and people who want to be hackers. Consider practicing martial arts. The kind of mental discipline required for self-defense appears to be similar in important ways to what hackers do. The most hacker-minded martial arts are those that place an emphasis on mental discipline, relaxed awareness, and control, rather than brute strength, athleticism, or physical endurance. Tai Chi is a great martial art for hackers.
Step 2. Likes to solve problems
No problem should be solved twice. Think of it as a community where everyone's time is precious. Hackers believe sharing information is a moral responsibility. When you solve a problem, make the information public to help everyone solve the same problem.
- You don't have to believe that you're obligated to give away all your creative products for granted, although the hackers who do will be respected by other hackers. This is consistent with hackers' values of selling just enough to get you covered in terms of food, shelter and computers.
- Read old books, like the Jargon File or Hacker Manifesto by The Mentor. The books may be outdated in terms of technical terms, but their attitude and spirit holds true today.
Step 3. Learn to recognize and resist authority
The enemies of hackers are boredom, tedious work, and authorities who use censorship and secrecy to strangle freedom of information. Monotonous work prevents hackers from hacking.
Supporting hacking as a way of life is rejecting what is known as the “normal” concept of work and property, and preferring to fight for equal rights and common knowledge
Step 4. Become an expert
Anyone who spends time on Reddit can write a ridiculous and ridiculous username and pretend to be a hacker. But the Internet is a good balancer, and values expertise more than ego and attitude. Take the time to hone skills and not imagery and you will earn respect faster than exposing yourself to the superficial things we think are “hacks”.
Method 3 of 3: Earning Respect
Step 1. Write open-source software
Create a program that other hackers find fun or useful, and provide the program's source code for free to the entire hacker community for use. The most revered great people in the world of hackers are the ones who have written great and useful programs that meet a wide range of needs and are provided free of charge, so that now everyone can use them.
Step 2. Help test and debug open-source software
Open-source software makers will tell you that a good beta-tester (one who knows how to describe symptoms clearly, localizes problems well, can deal with errors in release quickly, and is willing to perform some simple diagnostic routines) is a good one. very valuable.
Try to find a program still in development that interests you and be a good beta-tester. There is a natural progression from helping test programs to helping debug to helping modify programs. You will learn a lot this way, and generate good will with people who will help you later
Step 3. Publish useful information
Another good thing is that it collects and distills useful and interesting information into web pages or documents such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists, and makes it publicly available. Maintainers of major technical FAQs are respected almost as much as open-source program makers.
Step 4. Help keep the infrastructure running
The hacker community (and the development of technical expertise from the Internet, for that matter) is run by volunteers. There's a lot of important but uninteresting work to do to keep it going – maintaining mailing lists, moderating newsgroups, maintaining large software archive sites, developing RFCs and other technical standards. People who do this kind of thing are respected, because everyone knows that this work takes a lot of time and is not as interesting as playing with code. Doing these things shows dedication.
Step 5. Serve the hacker community itself
This is not something you will do until you have been in the field for a long time and are known for one of the four things mentioned above. The hacker community has no leaders, but it does have heroes, group leaders, historians and speakers. When you've been in it long enough, you'll likely develop into one of those roles.
Hackers don't try to overtly become group leaders, so it appears that seeking this kind of popularity is dangerous. Rather than strive for it, you should position yourself so that it falls into your lap, and be humble and friendly about your status
Tips
- Perl is worth learning for practical reasons; It's widely used for webpages and active administration systems, so even if you've never written in Perl, you should learn to read it. Many people use Perl to avoid C programming on jobs that don't require computer efficiency using C.
- Write your native language well. Although there is a common belief that programmers cannot write, some hackers are very good at composing.
- LISP is worth studying for a different reason – a deep enlightening experience you'll have when you finally understand it. That experience will make you a better programmer in the future, even if you don't use LISP much. You can get some initial experience with LISP quite easily by writing and changing the compose mode for the Emacs text editor, or the Script-Fu plugin for GIMP.
