3 ms·

Need an updated version for those of us who were born after nearly everything mentioned here was no longer manufactured/supported/commonly used!

can16358p 2y ago
Exactly. This might be the perfect test for ones born in 60s-mid 80s but anyone later born will have probably score much lower than their actual "hackerness" (is there such a word?) and the test would really not reflect the truth simply because the used tools and techniques and memes of the era. (But hey the test is from 1989 so it makes perfect sense)
- oliverkwebb 2y ago
  I see it more as a piece of history than any actual measurement of someones "hackerness". It's a fun way of peering into the realm of 80s hacker culture and seeing what was popular or cutting-edge at the time ("Have you ever programmed in the X windowing system?")
- ascorbic 2y ago
  Mid-80s is a bit late for a test from 1989. Most of these questions would need you to be in university or work. I'd say mid 40s to early 70s is more realistic. My uncle was born around '48 and was working at Cambridge Computer Lab in 1989, so I'm sure would have answered this.
  - anthk 2y ago
    Indeed Mid-80s would be either using Debian/Slackware, writting a device driver for Linux/BSD, tampering with Video4Linux, cracking TV cards by nearly decoding Nagra by hand, writting something akin to minimodem/tempest for Eliza, hacking a cable-modem to get free internet access, smashing the stack, doing anything close to what Fabrice Bellard did and so on.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    Agreed. I was born in '81, and by the time I got my first computer (coincidentally, probably '89, when this test was compile), a ton of the questions on that list would have required you to have been in the industry for a couple decades already. I feel like even a hacker born in 1970 would have a trouble answering "yes" to many of those questions.
ozim 2y ago
Just live with thought that there are no pure hackers anymore;)
globular-toast 2y ago
That's because hacker culture no longer exists.
- can16358p 2y ago
  I think it has changed shape: the ideologies are the same but the application is different due to the society, complexity of tech, social media, internet, regulation etc.
- ThrowawayR2 2y ago
  Sad but true. We are all the corporate code drones that the hackers prided themselves on not being.

can16358p 2y ago

Exactly. This might be the perfect test for ones born in 60s-mid 80s but anyone later born will have probably score much lower than their actual "hackerness" (is there such a word?) and the test would really not reflect the truth simply because the used tools and techniques and memes of the era. (But hey the test is from 1989 so it makes perfect sense)

oliverkwebb 2y ago
I see it more as a piece of history than any actual measurement of someones "hackerness". It's a fun way of peering into the realm of 80s hacker culture and seeing what was popular or cutting-edge at the time ("Have you ever programmed in the X windowing system?")
ascorbic 2y ago
Mid-80s is a bit late for a test from 1989. Most of these questions would need you to be in university or work. I'd say mid 40s to early 70s is more realistic. My uncle was born around '48 and was working at Cambridge Computer Lab in 1989, so I'm sure would have answered this.
- anthk 2y ago
  Indeed Mid-80s would be either using Debian/Slackware, writting a device driver for Linux/BSD, tampering with Video4Linux, cracking TV cards by nearly decoding Nagra by hand, writting something akin to minimodem/tempest for Eliza, hacking a cable-modem to get free internet access, smashing the stack, doing anything close to what Fabrice Bellard did and so on.
- kelnos 2y ago
  Agreed. I was born in '81, and by the time I got my first computer (coincidentally, probably '89, when this test was compile), a ton of the questions on that list would have required you to have been in the industry for a couple decades already. I feel like even a hacker born in 1970 would have a trouble answering "yes" to many of those questions.

ozim 2y ago

Just live with thought that there are no pure hackers anymore;)

globular-toast 2y ago

That's because hacker culture no longer exists.

can16358p 2y ago
I think it has changed shape: the ideologies are the same but the application is different due to the society, complexity of tech, social media, internet, regulation etc.
ThrowawayR2 2y ago
Sad but true. We are all the corporate code drones that the hackers prided themselves on not being.