
Ask HN: Would you differentiate between hacker, artist, craftsman and engineer - ismail
I am looking for various views on how you would define and differentiate between a hacker, artist, craftsman and engineer. I have some thoughts, but in order not to influence the discussion i will not post my own definitions until some time has passed.<p>The question again:<p>How would you differentiate between a hacker, artist, craftsman and engineer?<p>I have drafted some questions based on my own thinking. Feel free to use these to answer.<p>x = hacker or artist or craftsman or engineer<p>How does a (x) see the world?<p>What character traits does a (x) demonstrate?<p>Why does (x) do what they do?<p>How does (x) do what they do?<p>What does (x) actually do?
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amerkhalid
Hacker: someone who solves problem quickly. Maybe it is or it is not the most
elegant solution but it gets job done.

Artist: someone who creates something that stirs emotions. My friends and I
used to debate if ads are truly art form or not, I lean towards that they are.
But some of my friends argue that art product should be the product, not make
you wish to buy another product.

Craftsman: I haven't thought about craftsman much. It seems recently there is
a lot of romanticizing of craftsman in the Western hemisphere but back home
there are tons of craftsmen who seems to struggle financially.

Engineer: someone who builds something using well established principles, with
a lot of formal processes, communications, and most likely in a team. They may
work on artistic projects such as video games or art installation but their
part of project is not artistic.

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djaque
WRT the artist: I think it depends on the ad. Some people will argue this, but
I don't think making money from your art makes you a "sellout" or less of an
artist. On the other hand, there are usually a lot of constraints to what you
can put in an ad and most of them, although quirky or pretty, are kind of
soulless if you think about it.

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muzani
Hacker: someone who finds the shortest route. Root word hack, meaning to break
into something with an axe.

Artist: someone who extracts meaning out of something. Some extract meaning
from the meaningless, some extract it from something already existing, like a
different form on music or a perspective on war.

Craftsman: someone who makes high quality things.

Engineer: someone who finds the optimum solution to a problem. The hacker
religiously follows the shortest route, the engineer considers various trade
offs.

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mathgladiator
I'd argue they value different things.

A hacker values novelty.

An artist's values aesthetics.

A craftsman values quality.

An engineer values discipline to ship.

These are all spitballed, but there are a high number dimensions to think
about.

