Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
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- Author：Paul Graham
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Summary
"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West， in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas， if you're willing to risk the consequences。 " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age， by Paul Graham
We are living in the computer age， in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers， by people who call themselves hackers。 Who are these people， what motivates them， and why should you care？
Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers。 Your typewriter is gone， replaced by a computer。 Your phone has turned into a computer。 So has your camera。 Soon your TV will。 Your car was not only designed on computers， but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970。 Letters， encyclopedias， newspapers， and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet。
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age， by Paul Graham， explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it。 In clear， thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples， Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West。"
The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think， how we work， how we develop technology， and how we live。 Topics include the importance of beauty in software design， how to make wealth， heresy and free speech， the programming language renaissance， the open-source movement， digital design， internet startups， and more。
We are living in the computer age， in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers， by people who call themselves hackers。 Who are these people， what motivates them， and why should you care？
Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers。 Your typewriter is gone， replaced by a computer。 Your phone has turned into a computer。 So has your camera。 Soon your TV will。 Your car was not only designed on computers， but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970。 Letters， encyclopedias， newspapers， and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet。
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age， by Paul Graham， explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it。 In clear， thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples， Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West。"
The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think， how we work， how we develop technology， and how we live。 Topics include the importance of beauty in software design， how to make wealth， heresy and free speech， the programming language renaissance， the open-source movement， digital design， internet startups， and more。
Reviews
Harry Harman
，
Read this！You’ll be orders of magnitude wiser than the average person after。
Semih
，
Blog yazılarında bakış açısını beğendikten sonra okumaya karar verdiğim ilk kitabında Paul Graham'ın blog yazılarındaki dinamizmi ve düşünce çeşitliliğini bulamadığımı belirtmeliyim。 ODTÜ Yayıncılık baskısı maalesef tek seçenek olduğu için de bir süre okumayı ertelemiştim fakat düşündüğüm kadar zor geçmedi süreç。Kitap boyunca nerede acaba işin içine ressamlar girecek diyip durdum。 Hatta en son bu düşünceden vazgeçmiştim ki son iki üç sayfada konu bağlandı。 Her ne kadar tatmin olmasam da resimle Blog yazılarında bakış açısını beğendikten sonra okumaya karar verdiğim ilk kitabında Paul Graham'ın blog yazılarındaki dinamizmi ve düşünce çeşitliliğini bulamadığımı belirtmeliyim。 ODTÜ Yayıncılık baskısı maalesef tek seçenek olduğu için de bir süre okumayı ertelemiştim fakat düşündüğüm kadar zor geçmedi süreç。Kitap boyunca nerede acaba işin içine ressamlar girecek diyip durdum。 Hatta en son bu düşünceden vazgeçmiştim ki son iki üç sayfada konu bağlandı。 Her ne kadar tatmin olmasam da resimle kuracağı bağlantıya değinmeden bitirse üzülecektim。 Aslında söylemeye çalıştığı şey bir tasarımcı olduğunuzda en iyisi olmak zorundasınız fakat en yenilikçi olmak zorunda değilsiniz ama bir araştırmacıysanız durum bunun tam tersidir。 Dolayısıyla yapacağın yeni bir işe başlarken ilk taslağı hemen ortaya koymalısın。 Kendi başına çalışarak üreteceğin bir eserde ya da kuracağın bir işte daha başarılı olmak çok olasıdır çünkü kişinin kendi başına， sistemin normalde istediğinden çok daha sıkı çalışması ve çok daha hızlı ilerlemesi işten bile değildir。 Bunun yanında servet akzanmak ve pastadan pay alabilmek için yapılması gereken yegane şey insanlara istediği şeyi vermektir。 Eğer bir tarım toplmunda çok iyi keman üretiyorsan bile aç kalacaksındır。Kitap bence üç bölümden oluşuyor。 Birinci bölümde bazı motivasyon konuşmaları var （sıkıcı değil）。 İkinci bölüm -ki en uzun kısım ona ait- nasıl bir start-up kurarsınız， start-up kurmalısınız， yazılımcı olarak nasıl hayatta kalırsınız。 Üçüncü kısım ise daha çok bilgisayar dilleri ile ilgilenen bilgisayarcılara hatta ve hatta Lisp övücülere hitap ediyor。 Ben bazı yerleri jızlı geçmeyi tercih ettim。 Fakat son iki bölümü bahsettiğim sebepten ötürü atlanacak olsa dahi son 3-5 sayfa yine de konuların toparlanışı ve ana meselenin dile getirilişi sebebiyle okunmalı。 Diğer kitaplarını okurum diyemiyorum çünkü iki kitabı da yine Lisp anlatısı üzerinde duruyor。Kitap içerisinde birkaç kıvırdığım sayfa mevcut。 Tekrar okumak için değil fakat göz atmak hatta ilham almak ya da kulağımı çektirmek amacıyla elime alabilirim。Blog yazılarını okumaya devam edeceğim。 。。。more
Cheng
，
这本声名在外的书我应该是很久以前读过的，可惜毫无印象，显然并没有真正获得什么。除了知道了 PG 是 Lisp 的狂热粉丝以外？应该重新读一下。
Birkan
，
Yazıldığı zaman için barındırdığı fikirlerin bir çoğu güzel olmakla beraber bu fikirler günümüzde artık çok doğal kabul ettiğimiz fikirler olduğu için kitabın çok bir katkısını göremedim。 Bununla birlikte kitap boyunca sürekli olarak Lisp güzellemesi okumak da açıkçası biraz sıktı。 Okuması kolay bir kitap arıyorsanız değerlendirebilirsiniz ama okuma listesinde öncelik verilecek bir kitap olmadığını düşünüyorum。
Sapphireblue
，
这本书让我了解到其实黑客与画家也可有相似之处，作者也让我见识从一个"书呆子"的处境到了创业，互联网，以及从C，Perl，Phyton，到Ruby各个高级语言的发展。虽然黑客部分看得不太懂，但是慢慢看还是好感兴趣，我会努力学好语言的！ 这本书让我了解到其实黑客与画家也可有相似之处，作者也让我见识从一个"书呆子"的处境到了创业，互联网，以及从C，Perl，Phyton，到Ruby各个高级语言的发展。虽然黑客部分看得不太懂，但是慢慢看还是好感兴趣，我会努力学好语言的！ 。。。more
Fortass
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Un ouvrage qui s'est fait discret mais qui doit retenir l'attention de toute personne à l'affut de l'esprit de la culture hacker et plus particulièrement des débuts de la culture tech。 Un ouvrage qui s'est fait discret mais qui doit retenir l'attention de toute personne à l'affut de l'esprit de la culture hacker et plus particulièrement des débuts de la culture tech。 。。。more
kyon
，
财富是可以创造出来的，是对执着于分配是否平均的想法的釜底抽薪。程序语言是有高低之分的，因为不喜欢改变思考方式而不改变使用的程序语言，从低级的语言看高级的语言时，经常会有我不需要这样奇怪的设计的感慨。所谓设计模式，其实大部分是在实现人肉编译器profiler 要比提高编译后代码速度更重要，最好是编写代码时能够实时进行 profile， 让开发者对自己代码瓶颈心知肚明。软件先有原型，快速实现功能，获得用户，然后不断再设计。没有哪幅画完成了，只是不再画了而已。
Kody
，
Basically， if you don't found a company you are dumb。Because， if you found a company， you will have equity。 If you have equity， you can have wealth。 Why not have wealth。Compelling。。。 4/5 stars Basically， if you don't found a company you are dumb。Because， if you found a company， you will have equity。 If you have equity， you can have wealth。 Why not have wealth。Compelling。。。 4/5 stars 。。。more
Feng Tian
，
Some random ideas regarding how the author thinks/treats the world in his view。
Christophe_78
，
Paul Graham nous donne une vision de l'univers de la culture hacker， quand les hackers étaient des "makers" et nous offre sa philosophie du monde internet。 Paul Graham nous donne une vision de l'univers de la culture hacker， quand les hackers étaient des "makers" et nous offre sa philosophie du monde internet。 。。。more
Danny Gibson
，
Minus the Lisp essays -- which are interesting， but a bit out a place in assuming technical knowledge -- I found the pieces in "Hackers and Painters" worth returning to。 The arguments are well engineered， and the truisms are pithy and （presumably） tested in Graham's other ventures。 I find this useful， even if the overall tone of Silicon Valley worship is a bit grating。 Minus the Lisp essays -- which are interesting， but a bit out a place in assuming technical knowledge -- I found the pieces in "Hackers and Painters" worth returning to。 The arguments are well engineered， and the truisms are pithy and （presumably） tested in Graham's other ventures。 I find this useful， even if the overall tone of Silicon Valley worship is a bit grating。 。。。more
Pooja Sethi
，
PG's essays are gold and full of good advice; but his book should be mandatory for people into computer science。 I practically highlighted the whole thing and will definitely be rereading。Full of things that seem perfectly obvious when you read them but no one ever dares to say。Hacking is much more like writing than science。 You create a sketch and continue to iterate endlessly。 It's never done， you just stop working on it at some point。 We need languages that allow us to sketch。I wish someone h PG's essays are gold and full of good advice; but his book should be mandatory for people into computer science。 I practically highlighted the whole thing and will definitely be rereading。Full of things that seem perfectly obvious when you read them but no one ever dares to say。Hacking is much more like writing than science。 You create a sketch and continue to iterate endlessly。 It's never done， you just stop working on it at some point。 We need languages that allow us to sketch。I wish someone had told me this when I first learned to program。In many ways this book also reminded me a lot of "Shape Up"。 。。。more
Aaron Terrazas
，
I had mixed feelings about this book。 There were strong part and wildly bad parts。 The best chapters were those were he talks about topics he clearly knows a lot about （e。g。， code）; the worst were the chapters we he focuses on topics where he thinks he knows a lot （e。g。， economics）。
Zach
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Good but eclectic collection of essays about technology， software， wealth， and design。 The chapters on freedom of speech were really good as well。
Suclogger
，
终于读了这本大名鼎鼎的书了，其实只要读这个书名就足够使人浮想联翩，程序员与画家，多么泾渭分明而又有共通之处的两类人。读到序言才意识到作者的身份已经是创业教父，刚好最近也接触了Yc的创业课程，原来是作者创办的组织，甚觉亲切。程序员写的书，很难写的如此有趣，作者的才识真是令人敬佩，观点也都发人深思。不足之处是对于rust的累牍赘述，可能我也是作者口中的blub困境中的程序员吧。总之瑕不掩瑜，这本书值得多读几次，对每个程序员都是必备的。
Ravi Narayanan
，
Partially read。 Liked some of the tips for programming
Akhil Jain
，
My fav quotes （not a review）:-Page 15 |"Why is the real world more hospitable to nerds？ It might seem that the answer is simply that it's populated by adults， who are too mature to pick on one another。 But I don't think this is true。 Adults in prison certainly pick on one another。 And so， apparently， do society wives; in some parts of Manhattan， life for women sounds like a continuation of high school， with all the same petty intrigues。"-Page 17 |"Officially the purpose of schools is to teach ki My fav quotes （not a review）:-Page 15 |"Why is the real world more hospitable to nerds？ It might seem that the answer is simply that it's populated by adults， who are too mature to pick on one another。 But I don't think this is true。 Adults in prison certainly pick on one another。 And so， apparently， do society wives; in some parts of Manhattan， life for women sounds like a continuation of high school， with all the same petty intrigues。"-Page 17 |"Officially the purpose of schools is to teach kids。 In fact their primary purpose is to keep kids locked up in one place for a big chunk of the day so adults can get things done。"-Page 39 |"If Galileo had said that people in Padua were ten feet tall， he would have been regarded as a harmless eccentric。 Saying the earth orbited the sun was another matter。 The church knew this would set people thinking。"-Page 47 |"Training yourself to think unthinkable thoughts has advantages beyond the thoughts themselves。 It's like stretching。 When you stretch before running， you put your body into positions much more extreme than any it will assume during the run。"-Page 49 |"You can attack labels with meta-labels: labels that refer to the use of labels to prevent discussion。 The spread of the term "political correctness" meant the beginning of the end of political correctness，"-Page 50 |"When people are bad at math， they know it， because they get the wrong answers on tests。 But when people are bad at open mindedness， they don't know"-Page 51 |"You need to be able to watch your own thoughts from a distance。 That's not a radical idea， by the way; it's the main difference between children and adults。 When a child gets angry because he's tired， he doesn't know what's happening。 An adult can distance himself enough from the situation to say "never mind， I'm just tired。"-Page 76 |"At times we toyed with the idea of a new service called Viaweb Gold。 It would have exactly the same features as our regular service， but would cost ten times as much would be sold in person by a man in a suit。 （If the Defense Department pays a thousand dollars for toilet seats， it's partly because it costs a lot to sell toilet seats for a thousand dollars。）"-Page 98 |"You just can't fry eggs or cut hair fast enough。 What made the Florentines rich in 1200 was the discovery of new techniques for making the high-tech product of the time， fine woven cloth。 What made the Dutch rich in 1600 was the discovery of shipbuilding and navigation techniques that enabled them to dominate the seas of the Far East。"-Page 99 |"At Via web one of our rules of thumb was run upstairs。 Suppose you are a little， nimble guy being chased by a big， fat， bully。 You open a door and find yourself in a staircase。 Do you go up or down？ I say up。 The bully can probably run downstairs as fast as you can。 Going upstairs his bulk will be more of a disadvantage。"-Page 114 "In 1900， if you kept a carriage， no one asked what year or brand it was。 If you had one， you were rich。 And if you weren't rich， you took the omnibus or walked。 Now even the poorest Americans drive cars， and it is only because we're so well trained by advertising that we can even recognize the especially expensive ones。"-Page 115 "If Lenin walked around the offices of a company like Yahoo or Intel or Cisco， he'd think communism had won。 Everyone would be wearing the same clothes， have the same kind of office （or rather， cubicle） with the same furnishings， and address one another by their first names instead of by honorifics。 Everything would seem exactly as he'd predicted， until he looked at their bank accounts。 Oops。"-Page 116 "Will people create wealth if they can't get paid for it？ Only if it's fun。 People will write operating systems for free。 But they won't install them， or take support calls， or train customers to use them。 And at least 90% of the work that even the highest tech companies do is of this second， unedifying kind。"-Page 122 "Someone you already know might send you an email talking about sex， but someone sending you mail for the first time would not be likely to。"-Page 128 "But something seems to come over people when they try to be creative。 Beginning writers adopt a pompous tone that doesn't sound anything like the way they speak。 Designers trying to be artistic resort to swooshes and curlicues。 Painters discover that they're expressionists。 It's all evasion。"-Page 129 "GOOD DESIGN IS SUGGESTIVE。 Jane Austen's novels contain almost no description; instead of telling you how everything looks， she tells her story so well that you envision the scene for yourself。 Likewise， a painting that suggests is usually more engaging than one that tells。 Everyone makes up their own story about the Mona Lisa。"-Page 131 "If you draw a tree and you change the angle of a branch five degrees， no one will know。 When you change the angle of someone's eye five degrees， people notice。"-Page 131 "When Bauhaus designers adopted Sullivan's "form follows function，" what they meant was， form should follow function。 And if function is hard enough， form is forced to follow it， because there is no effort to spare for error。 Wild animals are beautiful because they have hard lives。"-Page 131 "Line drawings are in fact the most difficult visual medium， because they demand near perfection。 In math terms， they are a closed-form solution; lesser artists literally solve the same problems by successive approximation。 One of the reasons kids give up drawing at age ten or so is that they decide to start drawing like grownups， and one of the first things they try is a line drawing of a face。"-Page 133 "Imitating nature also works in engineering。 Boats have long had spines and ribs like an animal's ribcage。 In other cases we may have to wait for better technology。 Early aircraft designers were mistaken to design aircraft that looked like birds， because they didn't have materials or power sources light enough， or control systems sophisticated enough，"-Page 133 "It takes confidence to throw work away。 You have to be able to think， there's more where that came from。 When people first start drawing， for example， they're often reluctant to redo parts that aren't right。 They feel they've been lucky to get that far， and if they try to redo something， it will turn out worse。 Instead they convince themselves that the drawing is not that bad， really—in fact， maybe they meant it to look that way。 Dangerous territory， that。 If anything， you should cultivate dissatisfaction。 In Leonardo's drawings there are often five or six attempts to get a line right。" 。。。more
Jaap Grolleman
，
The book started unexpectedly well， blending programming， art， and history。 Paul Graham’s writing style is really pleasant: in an almost childish way he looks at things from the most basic way， and then extrapolates that to either a bigger picture or the future （usually both）。 Each page is full of dialectic paragraphs， which is a very honest way of writing and figuring things out。 It's what programming stands for in abstract terms that interests me: creating things。 But the book trails off and l The book started unexpectedly well， blending programming， art， and history。 Paul Graham’s writing style is really pleasant: in an almost childish way he looks at things from the most basic way， and then extrapolates that to either a bigger picture or the future （usually both）。 Each page is full of dialectic paragraphs， which is a very honest way of writing and figuring things out。 It's what programming stands for in abstract terms that interests me: creating things。 But the book trails off and loses relevancy for a non-programmer like me。 I know the basics of programming， but some parts are either above my head or of no interest。 The book is actually more a collection of slightly random essays rather than one carefully arranged story。 The chapter on Lisp seems filler to reach 220 pages， and there's a random topic on spam （although actually， this one is slightly interesting， yet out of place with the rest of the book）。 I will， though， recommend this book to friends， but only selected chapters。 。。。more
Darian
，
Very scattered book， I wasn't sure what to really expect from this book but having long-winded discussion about programming languages （discussion that's not even fruitful， very little in terms of the actual theory of programming languages which is more interesting） was not on my radar。To be fair， it is a bit of a disservice giving this less than four stars given that this book probably made some waves in 2004 when it was published。 It's just that the focus for the book in how it defines innovati Very scattered book， I wasn't sure what to really expect from this book but having long-winded discussion about programming languages （discussion that's not even fruitful， very little in terms of the actual theory of programming languages which is more interesting） was not on my radar。To be fair， it is a bit of a disservice giving this less than four stars given that this book probably made some waves in 2004 when it was published。 It's just that the focus for the book in how it defines innovation and creativity is so far-reaching that I don't think the author's ideas of growing and innovation with programming languages and a "Boy's Club" Silicon Valley culture would not have been correct no matter what era of technology we are looking at。 This book does come from a time before the advent of AI and the development of big tech to the force it is today， so it gets some leeway there， but otherwise the ideas in the book for how to best grow a company and develop products are way out of reach for most。Extra star given because I personally liked the design section （despite some really poor analogies）。 Otherwise， this seems like an inept attempt at fostering innovation while also bragging about Lisp， a now irrelevant language。 Alongside this， the so-called "Painters" discussion is very minimal， the analogy Graham tries to make between Hackers and Painters is still hazey and very ill-defined， and just mentioned as a brief section in the intro and conclusion， with occasional mentions of the Renaissance here and there。 It really does feel like Graham is being uncertain about his audience， he explains programming concepts like typing and scoping in layman's terms while leaving other technical jargon like pointers into the abyss。Overall， a very confused piece of writing that comes from a mediocre time in technology。 。。。more
Paul
，
Love Paul Graham。 First half for general techy audiences， last half a love song for Lisp。 So fun if you know something about languages。
Sequoia
，
really like the writing style。 Punctual and clear。
T
，
Incredible book。 Had some interesting articles that Paul doesn't have on his website。 I don't take every single thing in here as gospel - but Graham is a create and out of the box thinker。 Lots of interesting ideas to help expand your worldview and mental models。 Incredible book。 Had some interesting articles that Paul doesn't have on his website。 I don't take every single thing in here as gospel - but Graham is a create and out of the box thinker。 Lots of interesting ideas to help expand your worldview and mental models。 。。。more
Sananab
，
I don't want to be crass but this guy is the high king of absolute bullshit。 Even when he's stating simple， true， uncontroversial facts， he twists them into vacuous， anti-informative bullshit that makes you a lesser person for having read it。 I call it "hackernewsing"。 I don't want to be crass but this guy is the high king of absolute bullshit。 Even when he's stating simple， true， uncontroversial facts， he twists them into vacuous， anti-informative bullshit that makes you a lesser person for having read it。 I call it "hackernewsing"。 。。。more
Yazin
，
Collection of great ideas， can be read independently
Raayan Pillai
，
Took a bit longer to finish since it’s sort of an independent chapter book。 PG is full of insight as usual， with his scathing criticisms of corporate and romanticism of the keyboard。The parallels he draws from painting to software， typically via principles of good design， validate me。Such poignant advice from the Jurassic era of 2007 is quite humbling。 I think the explosion of big tech shadows how much was really going on in the 90-00s。A seriously good read for anyone who doesn’t take themselves Took a bit longer to finish since it’s sort of an independent chapter book。 PG is full of insight as usual， with his scathing criticisms of corporate and romanticism of the keyboard。The parallels he draws from painting to software， typically via principles of good design， validate me。Such poignant advice from the Jurassic era of 2007 is quite humbling。 I think the explosion of big tech shadows how much was really going on in the 90-00s。A seriously good read for anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously but can appreciate some heavy-handed nerd elitism 。。。more
Roman Kashitsyn
，
Even though I don't agree with many points in this book， it's a very pleasurable read overall。 Even though I don't agree with many points in this book， it's a very pleasurable read overall。 。。。more
Marty Kausas
，
really thought provoking。 i understand why people look up to PG as much as they do。 he's fucking smart really thought provoking。 i understand why people look up to PG as much as they do。 he's fucking smart 。。。more
Paul Sand
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my report my report 。。。more
Daniel Schulte
，
I was hoping for more from this book。 The last chapters are the best in my opinion。 I picked up this book because I was interested in hearing about some "big ideas from the computer age"。 What I ended up with was a collection of opinion essays from the author。 The early chapters are a strange concoction of subjects such as public schooling， but the later chapters actually get onto technical subjects such as why LISP is the best programming language in the world。 I don't think the author convince I was hoping for more from this book。 The last chapters are the best in my opinion。 I picked up this book because I was interested in hearing about some "big ideas from the computer age"。 What I ended up with was a collection of opinion essays from the author。 The early chapters are a strange concoction of subjects such as public schooling， but the later chapters actually get onto technical subjects such as why LISP is the best programming language in the world。 I don't think the author convinced me of anything， but it definitely renewed my interest in LISP。 。。。more
San
，