There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and network wizards that has its roots decades ago, at the time of the first minicomputers and the first experiments on ARPAnet. Members of this culture were the first hackers. In the popular idea, getting into computers and phreaking phone systems are the emblems of the hacker, but this culture is actually much more complex and morally motivated than most people believe. Learn basic hacking techniques, learn how to think like a hacker and how to get respected to make your way into the complex world of so-called hackers.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: The Basics
Step 1. Use UNIX
UNIX is the operating system of the Internet. You can certainly learn how to use the Internet without knowing UNIX, but you cannot be a network hacker without understanding this language. For this reason, the hacker culture today is heavily centered on Unix. A Unix operating system such as Linux can run with Microsoft Windows on the same machine. Download Linux online or find a local group of Linux users to help you with the installation.
- A good way to approach open source is what Linux fans call live CD, a distribution that runs the operating system entirely from a CD without having to modify the hard drive and without the need for installation. This is a good way to take a look at the various possibilities, without having to make drastic changes.
- There are other operating systems besides Unix, but they are distributed in binary format - you cannot read the code and it is not possible to modify it. Trying to learn how to hack under Dos, Windows, or any closed-source (proprietary) operating system is like learning to dance with your legs in plaster.
- In Mac OS X it is possible to use Linux, but only part of the system is open source and you have to be careful not to develop the bad habit of depending on Apple's proprietary code.
Step 2. Write in HTML
If you are not able to program, it is essential to learn the basics of HTML (HyperText Mark-Up Language) and gradually assimilate it thoroughly. What you see when you look at a site of images, photographs and design components is all coded using this language. For practice, learn how to make a simple home page and use it as a starting point.
- Open the page's source code page in your browser to review a sample HTML code. In Firefox, go to Tools> Web Development> Page Analysis and invest some time looking at the code.
- You can write HTML in a basic word processing program like Notepad or SimpleText, save the files as "text only" and then load them into a browser to see the effect of your work.
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You will need to learn how to format tags and visually think about how to use them. "" is used to close it."
is the opening of a line of paragraph code. You will use the tag to signal something visual: italics, formatting, color, etc. Learning HTML will help you better understand how the Internet works.
Step 3. Learn a programming language
Before you start writing poetry… you need to learn basic grammar. Before you break the rules, you need to learn them. But if your ultimate goal is to become a hacker, you will need to know English well to write your masterpiece.
- PYTHON is a good language to start with, because it is very clean, well designed and well documented, relatively "kind" to beginners. Despite being a good language, it is not just a toy, but it is very powerful and flexible and well suited for large projects. JAVA is an alternative, but its value as a first programming language has been questioned.
- If you are serious about programming languages, you will have to learn C, the base language of Unix (C ++ is closely related to C; if you know one, learning the other won't be difficult). C is very efficient with your machine's resources, but it will consume huge amounts of your debugging time which is why it is sometimes avoided (unless machine efficiency is essential).
- It's probably a good idea to use a good platform to get started (Backtrack 5 R3, Kali, or Ubuntu 12.04LTS).
Part 2 of 3: Think Like a Hacker
Step 1. Think creatively
Once you've covered the basic skills, you can start thinking artistically. All hackers are artists, philosophers and engineers all rolled into one. They believe in freedom and mutual responsibility. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved. Hackers take special pleasure in solving problems, honing their skills, and putting their intelligence to use.
- Hackers have different cultural and intellectual interests, in addition to hacking. They work intensely as if they were playing and they play intensely as if they were working. For a true hacker, the lines between "play", "work", "science" and "art" all tend to disappear or merge into high-level creative playfulness.
- Read science fiction novels. Going to science fiction fan meetings is a great way to meet proto-hackers and hackers. Consider learning a martial art. The kind of mental discipline required for martial arts appears to be very similar to what hackers do. Most of these martial arts emphasize mental discipline, relaxed awareness and control, rather than brute strength, prowess or physique. Tai Chi is a martial art suitable for hackers.
Step 2. Love solving problems
No problem should ever be solved twice. It is a community where every hacker's time is precious. For hackers, sharing information is a moral responsibility. When solving problems, make the information public to help everyone solve the same problem.
- You don't have to believe that you are forced to give away all the creative product, even if the hackers who do are the ones who get the most respect from the community. Selling enough to support food, shelter, and computers is consistent with hacker values.
- Read older documents, such as The Mentor's "Jargon File" or "Hacker Manifesto". They can be overcome in terms of technical problems, but the attitude and spirit are definitely current.
Step 3. Learn to recognize and fight authority
The enemies of the hacker are boredom, fatigue and authority figures who use censorship and secrecy to kill freedom of information. Monotonous work prevents the hacker from hacking.
Embracing the culture of hacking as a way of life means rejecting the so-called "normal" concepts of work and ownership, choosing instead to fight for equality and knowledge sharing
Step 4. Be competent
Anyone can spend their time on Reddit, come up with a ridiculous cyberpunk username, and present themselves as a hacker. But the internet is a great equalizer and values competence above ego and attitude. Invest your time working on your mastery and not on your image; you will gain respect more quickly than by modeling yourself on the superficial aspects that popular culture attributes to the hacker.
Part 3 of 3: Earning Respect
Step 1. Write open-source software
Write programs that are useful or fun for other hackers and offer source codes to the entire community. The most renowned hackers are the very ones who have written massive and functional programs, which meet collective needs and who share them, so that anyone can use them.
Step 2. Help test and debug free software
Any free (open source) software author who can reason will tell you that good beta testers (those who know how to clearly describe symptoms, locate problems well, can tolerate bugs in a rushed release, and are willing to apply some simple diagnostic routines) are worth their weight in gold.
Try to find a developing program that interests you and try to be a good beta-tester. There is a natural progression from helping test programs, debugging to helping with changes. You will learn a lot this way and you will better understand the people who will help you later
Step 3. Publish useful information
Another good thing is to collect and filter useful or interesting information in web pages or documents such as FAQs (or Frequently Asked Questions - Frequently Asked Questions) and make them generally available. Technical FAQ editors are almost as respected as free software authors.
Step 4. Help keep the infrastructure operational
The hacker culture (and the engineering development of the network, in this case) is run by volunteers. There is a lot of necessary but uninspiring work that needs to be done to keep it going - administering mailing lists, moderating newsgroups, curating sites with large software archives, developing RFCs and other technical standards. People who do this sort of thing well are highly respected, as anyone who knows these jobs are time-consuming and not as fun as playing with codes. Getting them shows dedication.
Step 5. Join the hacker culture
You will certainly not be in a position to do such a thing until you have made yourself well known for one of the first four things above. The hacker culture has no real leaders, but it does have heroes, historians, and "tribal" speakers. After being in the trenches long enough, you might become one of them.
Hackers don't trust those who want to show off in their tribe at all costs, so achieving this kind of fame is dangerous. Rather than aiming for this personality type, you need to strive to reach a certain position on your own and remain humble once you have the utmost respect from others
Advice
- Learn to write well in your natural language. While it's a common stereotype that programmers can't write, a surprising number of hackers are very capable writers.
- PERL is worth learning for practical reasons: it is widely used for active web pages and in system administration. If you don't program in Perl, you should still learn how to read it. Many people use Perl to avoid programming in C on jobs that don't require machine efficiency.
- LISP: It is worth knowing for another reason. You will only reach the experience of the profound enlightenment of this language when you have finally understood it. This experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you won't be using the LISP for a long time. You can get some initial LISP experience quite easily by writing and varying editing modes in Emacs or Script-Fu plugins for GIMP.
