Hacker Read

xauronx | karma 742 | avg karma 1.32 · 2013-07-14 02:58:56+00:00

Just finishing up Stranger in a strange land and I'm so surprised to see 'grok' on this context. I don't think I've ever seen the word before in my life. Pretty awesome.

espeed | karma 18634 | avg karma 6.27 · 2013-07-14 03:32:06+00:00

One of my civil engineering friends said something similar the other day when I used "grok" in a conversation, and I was somewhat surprised because programmers have been using it in conversation for years (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/grok.html). Evidently grok still has some pervading to do.

DiabloD3 | karma 46674 | avg karma 5.84 · 2013-07-14 06:48:18+00:00

I'm surprised, it comes up frequently among programmers, and I know not all of them could have read that wonderful book.

gknoy | karma 3726 | avg karma 2.22 · 2013-07-14 07:23:56+00:00

I encountered it in the Jargon file first, and that was part of what prompted me to read Stranger in a Strange Land.

danpat | karma 580 | avg karma 3.09 · 2013-07-14 11:56:37+00:00

Ditto. I first encountered "grok" in the early 1990s. I read Stranger in a Strange Land for the first time this year.

gadders | karma 9202 | avg karma 1.52 · 2013-07-16 11:57:09+00:00

I use it for when I completely understand a skill. On the continuum from unconscious incompetence -> conscious incompetence -> conscious competence -> unconscious competence I see it as the last step.