BKNHACKD.RVW  961115
 
"The New Hacker's Dictionary", Eric S. Raymond, 1996, 0-262-68092-0, U$16.50
%A   Eric S. Raymond esr@snark.thyrus.com esr@ccantares.scupa.edu
%C   55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA   02142-1399
%D   1996
%G   0-262-68092-0
%I   MIT Press
%O   U$16.50 curtin@mit.edu
%P   547
%T   "The New Hacker's Dictionary"
 
Following Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary" and Stan Kelly-Bootle's
"Computer Contradictionary" one expects this book to follow the same line.  One
expects any number of amusing listings, such as Macintrash and messy-DOS.  You
certainly get these--but a good deal more, besides.
 
That the book is a source of amusement and entertainment is undeniable. 
(Indeed, this review almost didn't get written, as I was seduced time and again
by the interesting and arcane in its pages.)  Raymond and company have,
however, compiled substantial material of social, cultural and historic value
for those wishing to understand both the strict hacker culture, and the more
diffused genre of technical enthusiasts that surrounds computing, and computer
networks.
 
The linguistic analysis of hacker culture is a scholarly work in itself. 
Whether linguists accept it as such in their own field, this work has done the
field work and compilation for them.  The analysis is incisive:  I was quite
startled to find the undoubted source for my own discomfort with including
punctuation inside of quotation marks.
 
This is not to say the work is without flaws.  Originally, the work emphasized
mainframe systems and the current compiler makes much of the foolishness of
those early users who saw little value in UNIX.  Personal computers are now the
object of some fun, while not being taken seriously in terms of computing.
 
(You didn't expect me to get through this without looking up "virus", did you? 
The book defines "back door", "logic bomb", "mockingbird", "phage", "Trojan
Horse", "virus" and "worm".  And sex. The virus definition is strictly
Cohenesque, and the worm definition refers to "The Shockwave Rider" while
bypassing Shoch and Hupp.  Unfortunately, though, Raymond did not take the
opportunity to correct or update the definitions for this edition.)
 
Whether for fun or scholarship, this is a valuable work.  I particularly
recommend it to the non-technical manager who needs to understand these
unpunctual, unkempt and ill-mannered nerds--without whom the accounting
department can't function.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993, 1996   BKNHACKD.RVW  961115

======================
roberts@decus.ca         rslade@vcn.bc.ca         slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
link to virus, book info at http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/rms.html
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)