On Sat, Jul 15, 2006 at 08:41:17AM +0900, Hal Fulton wrote:
> Pe?a wrote:
> >fr hal:
> ># Actually it was only last week that I first saw this term
> ># being used in the Ruby community. I wonder if it's too
> ># late to squash it?
> >
> >you took a vacation ;-)
> >http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/9699d659bd806203
> >
> 
> Now people are applying it to Ruby. That bothers me
> a little.

The term "hacking" used to have a negative slant on it, too.  It's not the term,
though, it's the slant that matters.  The term can't be taken back, you know?
So what exactly does it mean?

Well, because it's derogatory in origin, it's also ambiguous.  It's got a nested
image of primates performing informal needlework.  Conversely, there's an image
of crafty and agile treeswingers going up into the lofts, the places where the
rigid, upright (sticky and pale) homosapien fails.

Plus, I like the irony of Rubyists monkeypatching the word monkeypatching:
gutting it, redefining it, and dangerously executing it in public.

_why