One attribute that is often hinged to the meaning of hacking is pleasure, a word that I think everyone knows what it means, but of course, can mean so many things! We are going to address pleasure various times throughout the semester with the help of Mr Nietzsche, who thought of the depths of pleasure, pain, evil, and morality like no other philosopher and with the help of a more current philosopher, Martha Nussbaum in this piece which explores pleasure in Aristotle and Mill.
The following definition found in Steven Levy's classic account of the golden age of hacking, is one that aptly captures the importance of pleasure in hacking:
"and a project undertaken or a product built not solely to fulfill some constructive goal, but with some wild pleasure taken in mere involvement, was called a 'hack.' " p. 23 Hackers Steven Levy.
And here is a nice example in action