Becoming a Hacker

Becoming a hacker is not easy. I cannot stress this enough. It is not to discourage you be to warn you. You must spend at least 4hrs a day on the computer or reading computer related materials.

But, you don't have to learn everythink all by yourself. You can share knowledge with hackers you know or you can go to a 2600 meeting. If you do not know what that is go to www.2600.com to find out.

Now on to the basic skills.
There are many necessary skills to become a hacker. The most important one of them all is you must know how to program. I recommend learning Python as the first programming language. It is simple, clean and efficient. Python is free so you can get a copy of it at www.python.org. There are good tutorials on the website so chances are you won't have to go out and spend $40 dollars on a book. But, once you get familiar with Python, I do recommend you get the book Programming with Python (Its part of the O'Reilly Collection and it $54.95). The examples in the book are complex so I recommend you build some modules or test other's modules with Python before you get the book.

Java is another must learn. Java encoding and decoding are much faster than Pythons but its slightly more difficult. Learn it as a second language.

But, it doesn't stop there. Hackers need to know many other languages. Hackers must know C and C++, but they are very difficult to learn which is why its not recommended that you learn them first. To the point where you can learn a new language every 2-3 days, is when you have perfected the art of programming.

Other must know languages are Perl and LISP. I strongly suggest that you know these two languages because they are so popular in todays web.

HTML is also important to learn. It is not a programming language but all hackers know HTML. Because it is so easy to learn, I do not think that there will be any problem for anyone to learn it. There are a lot of junk out there about HTML and you might get lost in all the junk so I recommend the book (HTML & XTML The Definitive Guild 5th edition) by Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy. Its $39.95 and you should be able to find it in your local book store.

You also must know how to run a unix-box. I suggest getting one of the versions of Unix (like Linux). Its free so you don't have to spend a dime. To see how to get a free copy please go back to the Intro to Hacking guide.

Proceed to the Rules to Hacking Guide