Thanks for that reference, I will use it with students next year.
I already use one esr link for new programming students. I have no patience for students who say they want to learn programming and then start talking about hacking school computers and hacking facebook etc. I give them a brief description of what hacking really is, maybe with an example about hacking on the facebook api. If they insist on talking about cracking, I send them to esr's piece "What is a Hacker?" [1]
Then I treat my classroom sort of like a buddhist monastery. If they show up one day and show that they have a clear understanding of what good, hard hacking is, they are accepted into the class. If they try to go on about cracking, they get the metaphorical door slammed in their face. Most students come around when they see that neither I nor the more experienced programming students take them seriously at all, as long as they are going off about cracking.
Comments
Thanks for that reference, I will use it with students next year.
I already use one esr link for new programming students. I have no patience for students who say they want to learn programming and then start talking about hacking school computers and hacking facebook etc. I give them a brief description of what hacking really is, maybe with an example about hacking on the facebook api. If they insist on talking about cracking, I send them to esr's piece "What is a Hacker?" [1]
Then I treat my classroom sort of like a buddhist monastery. If they show up one day and show that they have a clear understanding of what good, hard hacking is, they are accepted into the class. If they try to go on about cracking, they get the metaphorical door slammed in their face. Most students come around when they see that neither I nor the more experienced programming students take them seriously at all, as long as they are going off about cracking.
[1] - http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#what_is