lamer n.
[prob. originated in skateboarder slang] 1. Synonym for luser, not used much by hackers but common
among warez d00dz, crackers,
and phreakers. A person who
downloads much, but who never uploads. (Also known as `leecher').
Oppose elite. Has the same
connotations of self-conscious elitism that use of luser does among hackers. 2. Someone who tries
to crack a BBS. 3. Someone who annoys the sysop or other BBS
users - for instance, by posting lots of silly messages,
uploading virus-ridden software, frequently dropping carrier,
etc.
Crackers also use it to refer to cracker wannabees. In phreak culture, a lamer is one
who scams codes off others rather than doing cracks or really
understanding the fundamental concepts. In warez d00dz culture, where the ability
to wave around cracked commercial software within days of (or
before) release to the commercial market is much esteemed, the
lamer might try to upload garbage or shareware or something
incredibly old (old in this context is read as a few years to
anything older than 3 days).
`Lamer' is also much used in the IRC world in a similar sense
to the above.
Node:language lawyer, Next:languages of
choice, Previous:lamer,
Up:= L =
language lawyer n.
A person, usually an experienced or senior software engineer,
who is intimately familiar with many or most of the numerous
restrictions and features (both useful and esoteric) applicable
to one or more computer programming languages. A language lawyer
is distinguished by the ability to show you the five sentences
scattered through a 200-plus-page manual that together imply the
answer to your question "if only you had thought to look there".
Compare wizard, legal, legalese.
Node:languages of choice,
Next:LART, Previous:language lawyer, Up:= L =
languages of choice n.
C, C++,
LISP, and Perl. Nearly every hacker knows one of C or LISP,
and most good ones are fluent in both. C++, despite some serious
drawbacks, is generally preferred to other object-oriented
languages (though in 1999 it looks as though Java has displaced it in the affections of
hackers, if not everywhere). Since around 1990 Perl has rapidly
been gaining favor, especially as a tool for
systems-administration utilities and rapid prototyping. Python, Smalltalk and Prolog are also
popular in small but influential communities.
There is also a rapidly dwindling category of older hackers
with FORTRAN, or even assembler, as their language of choice.
They often prefer to be known as Real Programmers, and other hackers
consider them a bit odd (see "The Story of Mel" in Appendix
A). Assembler is generally no longer considered interesting or
appropriate for anything but HLL
implementation, glue, and a few
time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems programs.
FORTRAN occupies a shrinking niche in scientific programming.
Most hackers tend to frown on languages like Pascal and Ada, which
don't give them the near-total freedom considered necessary for
hacking (see bondage-and-discipline
language), and to regard everything even remotely
connected with COBOL or other
traditional card walloper
languages as a total and unmitigated loss.