Geek Code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:49, 6 November 2022

Revision as of 16:09, 6 November 2022

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The '''Geek Code''', developed in 1993, is a series of letters and symbols used by self-described "[[geek]]s" to inform fellow geeks about their [[personality psychology|personality]], appearance, interests, skills, and opinions. The idea is that everything that makes a geek [[individual]] can be [[Code|encode]]d in a compact format which only other geeks can read. This is deemed to be [[Algorithmic efficiency|efficient]] in some sufficiently geeky manner.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/culturesofcomput00susa |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/culturesofcomput00susa/page/10 10]–20 |title=The cultures of computing |publisher=Wiley |author=Susan Leigh Star |author-link=Susan Leigh Star |year=1995}}</ref>

It was once common practice to use a geek code as one's email or Usenet signature, but the last official version of the code was produced in 1996, and it has now largely fallen out of use,.<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |last1=Romenesko |first1=James |title=The Code of the Geeks |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/05/17/the-code-of-the-geeks/764cb760-d6f4-4ba2-860c-e1d1bcc69919/?noredirect=on |access-date=14 November 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=17 May 1996}}</ref><ref name="geekcode"/> although a recent revival with the publication of [https://github.com/telavivmakers/geek_code/ Geek Code versions 5.x] have updated many of the categories.

<ref>

{{cite web

| author=Tel Aviv Makers

| url=https://github.com/telavivmakers/geek_code/

| title=Tel Aviv Makers Geek Code Repo

| date=October 18, 2019

}}

</ref>

==History==

The Geek Code was invented by Robert A. Hayden in 1993 and was defined at geekcode.com.<ref name="geekcode">[{{Cite web |url=http://www.geekcode.com/ |title=The Geek Code |access-date=April 9, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228200740/http://www.geekcode.com/ |archive-date=February 28, 2009 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> It was inspired by [[The Natural Bears Classification System|a similar code]] for the [[Bear (gay culture)|bear]] subculture - which in turn was inspired by the [[Yerkes spectral classification scheme|Yerkes spectral classification]] system for describing stars.<ref name="jargon"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/08/online_gay_culture_and_soc_motss_how_a_usenet_group_anticipated_how_we_use.2.html|title=The First Gay Space on the Internet|publisher=[[Slate.com]]}}</ref><ref>Unlike the Geek Code, the Yerkes system uses classes, subclasses and peculiarities for categorization. These systems differ in their [[orthogonality]]: the Geek Code is very [[Orthogonal (computing)|orthogonal in the computer science sense]] (where variables may be [[Projection (linear algebra)|projected]] onto [[basis vectors]]), where the Yerkes system is very [[Orthogonality#Taxonomy|orthogonal in the taxonomic sense]] (representing mutually exclusive [[class (computer science)|classes]]).</ref>

After a number of updates, the last 'official' revision of the code was v3.12, in 1996.<ref>

{{cite web

| author=Serge K. Keller

Line 25 ⟶ 17:

}}

</ref>

A series of [https://github.com/telavivmakers/geek_code new versions of the code] have been published on github since 2019.

<ref>

{{cite web

| author=Tel Aviv Makers

| url=https://github.com/telavivmakers/geek_code/

| title=Tel Aviv Makers Geek Code Repo

| date=October 18, 2019

}}

</ref>

Some alternative encodings have also been proposed. For example, the 1997 Acorn Code was a version specific to users of [[Acorn Computers|Acorn]]'s [[RISC OS]] computers.<ref>

{{cite web

Line 107 ⟶ 91:

==External links==

*Robert Hayden's [https://web.archive.org/web/20090228200740/http://www.geekcode.com/ official Geek Code web site] (presenting v3.12)

*Tel Aviv Makers's [https://github.com/telavivmakers/geek_code/ Geek Code repo] (presenting versions 5.x as well as a detailed history including v4.0)

[[Category:Internet self-classification codes]]

[[Category:Internet culture]]