See Hack (computer game) for the Hack computer game.
A Hack is a person lacking talent or ability (e.g. "hack writer").
It has also within the past few decades come to mean either a kludge, or the opposite of a kludge (ie, a clever or elegant solution to a difficult problem). As a verb, it means creating or participating in a hack. The term word is commonly (but not exclusively) used in relation to computer programming, especially among university computing center staff (especially at MIT and Stanford in the period beginning approximately in the mid 60s and, more or less ending in the 80s, see the Jargon File definition). Originally, a hack (and so a hacker, meaning one who hacks) meant a quick fix to a computer program problem. For instance, "That hack you made last night to the editor is working well." The surface implication was (mock modestly and playing on the literary definition above) a casual attempt to fix the problem, but the deeper meaning was, often, something more clever and thus impressive.
The term is still used in this sense in the technical computer community (eg, see the Palm note below) though it has since acquired an additional, more common, meaning outside that group since approximately the 80s; see hacker.
The context determines whether the complimentary or derogatory meanings is implied. Phrases such as "ugly hack" or "quick hack" generally refer to the latter meaning; phrases such as "cool hack" or "neat hack" refer to the former.
Additionally, in MIT's particular lingo, a "hack" is an elaborate and flamboyant student prank. Past MIT hacks include:
Covering the university's signature "Great Dome" (which seems to be something of a magnet for hacks) with tin foil
Putting a fake (but convincing) MIT Campus Police cruiser on the Dome
Hiding the university president's office by covering its entrance with a fake bulletin board
Inflating a huge balloon on the playing field during a Harvard-Yale football game
In a similar vein, a "hack" may refer to works outside of computer programming. For example, a math hack means a clever solution to a mathematical problem. The GNU General Public License has been described as a copyright hack.
For Palm OS users, a "hack" refers to an extension of the operating system which provides additional functionality.
A hack can also refer to the goal of the game hacky sack.
hack is most dangerous in the modern computers....so hackers are hack a websites and yahoo,gmail account ..and anonymous persons theft our legal documents,priva items.... but hacker's are exordinary intelligent in computer fields..he can able to identify other hackers ,that is the computer technology....
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- last message on September 30th, 2009
