Paul Graham wrote an essay about what great hackers have in common. Here are some quotes.

Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program. Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they’re delighted to find people will pay them for.

What do hackers want? Like all craftsmen, hackers like good tools. In fact, that’s an understatement. Good hackers find it unbearable to use bad tools. They’ll simply refuse to work on projects with the wrong infrastructure.

Great hackers also generally insist on using open source software. Not just because it’s better, but because it gives them more control.

Along with good tools, hackers want interesting projects.

Along with interesting problems, what good hackers like is other good hackers.

I like this interesting essay of Paul Graham. I also like his recent book Hackers & Painters. Note that the word “hacker” means different thing from differnt people’s viewpoint.

To the popular press, “hacker” means someone who breaks into computers. Among programmers it means a good programmer. But the two meanings are connected. To programmers, “hacker” connotes mastery in the most literal sense: someone who can make a computer do what he wants– whether the computer wants to or not.