How To Become A Hacker
It's easier than you think :)
Nat Friedman: So, I'll let you in on the secret. Here are the steps to becoming a hacker:
- Download the source code to the program you want to change
- Untar it on your hard drive
- Get it to build and run
- Open the source code in an editor
- Find the part of the code that you need to change to make the program do what you want it to do
- Make the changes you need to make to the code and test it to make sure it works
- Run the diff -u command and email the output to the mailing list
Contrast this with ESR's advice, you will see that Nat's advice is so much easier.