A.7. Points For Style

Again, to be a hacker, you have to enter the hacker mindset. There are some things you can do when you're not at a computer that seem to help. They're not substitutes for hacking (nothing is) but many hackers do them, and feel that they connect in some basic way with the essence of hacking.

• Learn to write your native language well. Though it's a common stereotype that programmers can't write, a surprising number of hackers (including all the best ones I know of) are able writers.

• Read science fiction. Go to science fiction conventions (a good way to meet hackers and proto-hackers).

• Study Zen, and/or take up martial arts. (The mental discipline seems similar in important ways.)

• Develop an analytical ear for music. Learn to appreciate peculiar kinds of music. Learn to play some musical instrument well, or how to sing.

• Develop your appreciation of puns and wordplay.