Advent of Computing - Episode 10.5 - The Jargon File

Episode Date: August 18, 2019

In this mini-episode we look at the Jargon File, an early primary source about hacker culture. The most recent version of the file lives here: http://catb.org/jargon/html/ If you want more of my voice, I was also recently on the What Do You Do With That podcast talking about restoring an IBM PS/2 Model 25. You can find all their episodes here: https://wdydwt.blubrry.net/

The hacker culture is actually a loosely networked collection of subcultures that is, nevertheless, conscious of some important shared experiences, shared roots, and shared values. It has its own myths, heroes, villains, folk epics, in-jokes, taboos, and dreams. The Jargon File, version 4.4.7. I remember the first time I read those words, or at least a version of them, as a teenager. It may come as a shock, but I am a bit of a computer geek, and have been since early on in life. Now, here, the word hacker doesn't have the modern connotation of a malicious intruder. More correctly, a hacker is just a programmer or computer user inside of a larger cultural context. And the jargon file exists to explain that context.

And, as someone just learning to program, reading this made me realize I was becoming part of a culture, a tradition so to speak. It may sound silly, but it made me feel like I belonged. But that doesn't explain what the jargon file really is, or how a file circulating online could be used to bring together a 50-some year old culture. Welcome back to Advent of Computing. I'm your host, Sean Haas. And it's that time again, we have another bite-sized episode. This time, we're talking about what I think is one of the most interesting primary sources from the early internet, the jargon file. This has importance to me as a formative text. Reading it really made me want to learn more about computers and go deeper into programming. But even more, the jargon file is a great example of a primary source that, since starting this podcast, I have learned to appreciate on a whole

different level. Now, primary sources are really a holy grail for any kind of researchers. These are documents written at the same time of an event, usually by people involved first-hand with that event. Think of something like diary entries or newspaper articles. These kinds of sources capture an uncut and unfiltered story that hasn't been clouded by time or second-hand accounts. Most importantly, they capture what a culture or peoples think of themselves on a day-to-day basis. And the jargon file is a text that does that for computer culture in the 70s and 80s. In this mini-episode, we're going to look at what the jargon file is,

its origins, and its place in hacker culture today. So to start this off with, what is the jargon file? Well, it's sort of a dictionary. But that's kind of a deceiving description, there's more to it than that. The bulk of the text is a list of definitions of computer terms, or jargon, if you will. However, don't let that fool you. This isn't really a computer dictionary. Definitions are usually pretty tongue-in-cheek, filled with inside jokes and light jabs. An example will probably help. Here's the definition for the word suit. health. Here's the definition for the word suit. Noun. Definition 1. Ugly and uncomfortable business clothing, often worn by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a tie, a strangulation device that partially cuts off the blood supply to the brain. It is thought that this explains much about the End quote.

The point I'm getting to is this. The jargon file doesn't just explain computer jargon. It explains how programmers of the day saw the world, or at least how they talked about it. Beyond the definitions, the file has listings of hacker folklore, speaking patterns, jokes, and even some comic strips depending on which version you're looking at. Altogether, the jargon file serves as a sort of repository of hacker culture from the early days of the online world. So, where did the file come from? Well, that's one of the great things about the jargon file. It was a collaborative document from the very beginning. the jargon file. It was a collaborative document from the very beginning. The earliest author was a man named Raphael Finkel, at the time a PhD candidate at Stanford's Artificial Intelligence

Lab, or SAIL. Some of the first entries in the file were written by Finkel as far back as 1975. Originally, the file was just a text document named AIWord. The file was never really associated with AI research, but instead programmer culture at large. You see, in the 70s, AI was the cutting edge. So it wasn't so much that AI researchers had a distinctive culture, but rather that a lot of programmers were involved with AI Researcher, hence AIWord. From Stanford, AIWord would spread to the MIT AI Lab, which would become the location

the file is most commonly associated with. Sometime in 1976, Mark Crispin, another researcher at Stanford and the eventual creator of the IMAC email protocol, sent a copy of AI Word over the ARPANET to the AI lab at MIT. Once in Massachusetts, the file was renamed SAIL Jargon, since, well, it was a file full of jargon from Stanford's SAIL. Eventually, the prefix was dropped, and the file name just became Jargon, which has become the most recognizable name for the document today. Over the next few years, from 76 into sometime in the early 80s, contributions to the file would come from both Stanford and MIT. Some notable contributors

include people like Richard Stallman, who would go on to found the Free Software Foundation and create Emacs, as well as a lot of other free software tools that are used by almost everyone in the Linux industry today. Or Don Woods, one of the programmers behind the first text-based adventure game, Colossal Cave Adventure. Guy Steele was another contributor, and he was part of the team that would design the Scheme programming language. And that's just to name a couple of the contributors. This is really getting to what makes the jargon file such an important source. It was open access. Anyone with access to MIT or the lab at SAIL could add or edit the file. And this means it was a very special primary source, because a lot of the movers and shakers in the early days of the internet contributed to it during their formative years.

Think of it as a miniature Wikipedia being used to preserve a snapshot of hacker culture in the 70s and 80s. During this period, it was a real living document, and it encapsulated the lived experiences of a very small and new subculture. I've been talking about the jargon file as a snapshot, and I've been using that word for a specific reason. That's because after sometime around 1983, the file became somewhat frozen in its content. That's when it was first widely published in print. Now, parts of the file had found their ways into magazines and publications prior to this time, but 83 was the year that the entirety of the text was published as the Hacker's Dictionary. This version of the file was mainly edited and compiled by the aforementioned Guy Steele, but many earlier contributors were involved in this publication.

Part of the reason the jargon file stopped being so alive was due to its paperback debut. There was a drive to keep the file somewhat in-state for at least a little bit while the book was first coming out. Part of it was just a change in culture though. The MIT AI lab was defunct in the late 70s, and, in general, computing was starting to shift away from the large, shared mainframes that the jargon file was written on. The text itself gives one final, insightful reason. To quote, The file's compilers, already dispersed, moved on to other things. Steel 83 was partly a monument to what its authors thought was a

dying tradition. No one involved realized at the time just how wide its influence would be. End quote. Note that in that text, Steel 83 is in reference to the first edition of the Hacker's Dictionary. In the mid-80s and beyond, the jargon file in all its iterations started to shift from a living document to a monument. Between 83 and now, the jargon file has been updated on and off, but the bulk of the jargon file. But it doesn't stop there. Today, at least to those who know about it, the file lives on as an epic, so to speak. It's really one of the few foundational texts for hackers and programmers that isn't an academic work or a reference manual. for hackers and programmers that isn't an academic work or a reference manual.

It's a book that captures the culture and language surrounding the early roots of the internet and programming as a culture, and it still serves as a relevant touchstone to the life of a computer programmer today. If you want to read the jargon file for yourself, I'll link to its most recent online iteration in the description. You can also purchase a hard copy. There have been about three different editions, so they're relatively easy to find and a worthwhile investment. Thanks for listening to Adren of Computing.

I'll be back next week with the regularly scheduled full-sized episode. If you want to hear more of my voice, you can check me out on the What Do You Do With That podcast, where I was recently on as a guest to talk about my restoration of an IBM PS2 Model 25 computer. I also highly recommend the podcast. I'll link to their site in the description as well. Until then, if you like the show, why not take a minute to share it with a friend? You can rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. If you have any comments or suggestions for a future topic, shoot me a tweet.

I'm at Advent of Comp on Twitter. And as always, have a great rest of your day.