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Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
 
 
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Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age [Paperback]

Paul Graham (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Book 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.

About the Author

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.

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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4.2 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting But The Book Title Is Misleading!, Oct 2 2004
By 
David Baron (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age (Hardcover)
The book is a interesting read but the title doesn't represent what the book is about. There is only a small chapter on painting and hacking, the rest is just essays on spam, startups & lisp. The book felt like a random collection of essays & opinions.
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5.0 out of 5 stars As Interesting for Non-Technical Types As Hackers, July 19 2004
By 
Gina Bianchini "Gina" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age (Hardcover)
A friend of mine introduced me to this book and I am glad that he did. While I am not a programmer and, as a result, got lost a couple of times in the essays, "Beating the Averages" and "The Dream Language", I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

It clearly and crisply explains the art and science of programming and where it fits into a larger historical and social context. It also provides many thought-provoking insights for technical and non-technical folks alike.

You can see in Graham's writing style his passion for simple, succinct prose as well as code. It was a very pleasurable read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Painters and Hackers: How Many Are We?, July 10 2004
By 
This review is from: Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age (Hardcover)
Hello Paul,
I read your essays "Hackers and Painters" and "Taste for
Makers", and I find them GREAT, even if many months later
the first publication.

I searched the Internet since 1995+ for texts like yours,
but I was able to find *zero* occurrencies of the big
evidence: painters and hackers share common traits.

Of course, they are akin not in the foolish sense that one
can write a program to display some pixels at random or
fixed positions.
Instead, painters and hackers are equals in taste, design,
and skecthing.

I studied painting at Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, but
I thinker with computers since I was 12, I started with an
Apple IIe clone built by my brother (when he was 18) using
a do-it-yourself kit.
Now I work as a "corporate drone" programmer in Milan.

That's why when I read your essays I was so impressed:
I am not smart enough to be a "real hacker," AND I am not
good enough to be a famous painter, but today this Middle
Land seems to me no longer too much strange.

Thanks Paul,
Claudio Destro

PS:
To be a painter or to be an hacker, that's the question.

I really need to stress the fact that I am really split in
two personalities (as seen from the outside, of course.)
In fact, when I was 14~15, I was really stucked (for about
two years) on the following (in)decision: to study fine
arts or to study information technology?

Did I choose correctly? The fact that now I am a "corporate
drone" programmer makes me think "No, I did not choose
correctly." Indeed, the fact that you, a _real_ computer
scientist, wrote such essays, makes me think that at least
I was right.

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