Name: Hackers and Painters
Rating: 3.8 (38 reviews)
Author: Paul Graham

Introduction

What’s in it for me? Learn to better understand your “nerd” friends and programming colleagues.

Most people who aren’t into computer programming tend to think of it as boring and analytical. But if you’re a programmer yourself, you know that programming is a very creative process, akin to painting. Just like artists, good programmers focus on creating great things, and the possibilities of what you can do are virtually limitless.

And this is not the only misconception non-programmers have about programmers. Yes, programmers may dress unfashionably or act awkwardly in social situations, but this is mostly because they’re smart people and couldn’t care less about social conventions. It’s this rebellious spirit that makes them so good at programming, a state of mind that could help anyone come up with innovative ideas.

In these blinks, you’ll discover:

what programming languages are and why there are so many,
why the motives of computer hackers initially baffled the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and
why perhaps it’s time you too learned how to code – if you want to become obscenely rich.

Key idea 1 of 10

Morals are as fleeting as fashion; and nerds are unpopular because they’re unaware of both.

What do you think fashion and morals have in common? At first glance, not much. But actually both phenomena are limited to a certain time and place.

Obviously, fashion sense is tied to a specific time: take a look at photos from the 1990s and you’ll see how far tastes have come since then. And if you look at images from foreign places like Japan, for example, even today you may be astonished at what is currently in fashion there, too.

It may be a surprise then to realize that morals are just as temporary and location-dependent. These moral fashions affect a whole spectrum of moral issues, including how you should treat other people and what values you cherish the most.

An extreme example: the moral compass of many Germans during World War II was very different than from the values of citizens in modern Germany today.

So, both clothing fashions and moral fashions are constantly changing. Can you think of any subgroup in society that is oblivious to these changes?

Of course: nerds, or smart people who are not socially adept and so don’t try to fit in with their peers. Nerds use their time and energy to become smarter without bothering to adhere to fashionable conventions, because being fashionable isn’t a goal. This may be most apparent if someone you know wears a neon denim jacket every day for five years, but it also applies to moral fashions.

The result is that nerds are not very likely to be popular among their peers, especially in high school. To be voted prom king or queen, a student usually has to be in tune with the current moral and clothing fashions.

But thankfully after high school – in the real world – where being fashionable doesn’t matter much anymore, nerds seem to do just fine.

Key idea 2 of 10

Computer hackers are like artists, in the sense that both groups want to make good things.

If you think of the word hacker, what comes to mind? Most people probably imagine a cold, calculating person who illegally breaks into computers through tedious, analytical work.

Now, think about an artist, like a painter. You’ve probably conjured up an image of an inspired genius who pours her soul on to a canvas.

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Key idea 3 of 10

Hackers need to be rebellious to be good at what they do.

You may think that successful computer programming requires you to adhere rigidly to rules and conventions. After all, not doing so would result in a bunch of errors, right?

In fact, becoming a hacker often means violating some rules. Just like in any other profession, you can only learn to hack by looking at the work of those who came before you. And if you want to take a really close look, you may well have to bend and break some laws yourself, as it’s possible that the work you’re interested in is protected by intellectual property rights.

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Key idea 4 of 10

Launching a start-up can be a fast way to get rich, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Many people dream of one day starting a company around a great idea they’ve had. But if you’re a good programmer, you really should go for it and found your own company.

Why?

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Key idea 5 of 10

The end-user’s opinion is the ultimate test for how successful your product and company are.

As discussed before, just like painters have to please an audience, hackers need to please a user. This means that when you found a company and begin designing your product, the end user has to take center stage in your mind.

First of all, you should create and launch a prototype of your product as soon as possible to collect feedback from real users. This strategy is called Worse is Better, because launching even a pretty stripped-down prototype early on gets you valuable feedback that allows you to fix mistakes and improve the product to better suit your users’ needs.

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Key idea 6 of 10

Programming languages differ according to their purpose, and are being improved all the time.

“C++, Python, Java…” You’ve probably sometimes heard programmers listing all the languages they can code in. What they’re referring to are the programming languages in which they are able to give commands to computers.

But computers don’t actually understand these languages. They only comprehend machine language, meaning specific combinations of ones and zeros that tell the computer what functions to perform. This means programmers also need a compiler to translate the programming language into machine language.

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Key idea 7 of 10

A good programming language is designed with taste and according to a hacker’s needs.

If you were to look at 1,000 paintings and divide the good from the bad, you’d obviously make that judgment based on your own taste. The same is true for hackers who decide between good and bad programming languages. They appreciate good taste in the programming languages they use, and as they advance as programmers, their own taste changes and develops, too.

For example, if you’ve designed your own programming language and years later, publish a new version, it will surely be better than the previous one. This is because you didn’t have the skills to make the original version as good as the updated one, and your taste has also improved along the way.

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Key idea 8 of 10

Businesses prefer popular programming languages, but sometimes obscure ones could give them an edge.

If you’re not a programmer and want to start a business that requires programming, you probably have no idea which programming language your company should use. So how should non-programmers like business managers and project leaders choose the language for their programmers to code in?

In general, businesses prefer using popular, widespread languages.

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Key idea 9 of 10

You could actually stop getting spam emails if you wanted to.

It was mentioned earlier that a good hacker can do virtually anything. One fun example is tackling a problem you’re probably all too familiar with: spam, the seemingly unstoppable flow of unsolicited advertisements that bombard your inbox.

So if you’re a hacker sick of spam, how would you deal with it? You’d probably come up with a few different methods.

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Key idea 10 of 10

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

Contrary to what most people think, computer programming is artistic work, and a programming nerd’s rebellious nature can result in the creation of inspiring, innovative things. By founding a start-up around a great idea, a computer programmer can even make a fortune.

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Hackers and Painters summary