"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham
We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?
Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

计算机世界就像一个智力狂野的西部，在这里你可以用你的想法向任何人开枪，只要你愿意承担后果。"--摘自《黑客与画家》。来自计算机时代的大想法，作者：保罗-格雷厄姆

我们生活在计算机时代，在一个越来越多地由计算机程序员和软件设计师，由自称为黑客的人设计和设计的世界。这些人是谁，他们的动机是什么，以及为什么你应该关心？

考虑一下这些事实。我们周围的一切都在变成计算机。你的打字机已经消失了，被电脑取代。你的手机已经变成了一台电脑。你的相机也是如此。很快你的电视也会。你的汽车不仅是在电脑上设计的，而且里面的处理能力比1970年时一个房间大小的主机还要多。信件、百科全书、报纸，甚至你的本地商店都被互联网所取代。

黑客和画家。保罗-格雷厄姆的《计算机时代的大思想》解释了这个世界以及占据这个世界的人们的动机。格雷厄姆用清晰、深思熟虑的散文，结合富有启发性的历史实例，带领读者对他所称的 "知识的狂野西部 "进行了一次坚定的探索。

本书中讨论的观点将对我们如何思考、如何工作、如何开发技术以及如何生活产生强大而持久的影响。主题包括软件设计中美的重要性、如何创造财富、异端和言论自由、编程语言的复兴、开源运动、数字设计、互联网创业公司等等。