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As a kid, I always assumed that it was "description" but in some other language which I was unfamiliar with.


I thought it was leetspeak for "this", so FILE_ID.DIZ was "file to identify this"


Leetspeak. As a kid, you should have known leetspeak.


I think .diz preceeded leetspeak by a couple of years.


FWIW, leetspeak is just a calligraphic flourish away from feetspeak.


Yes, but which color book was this term first used? Then we'll establish how l337 you are or are not


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U9MI0u2VIE

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/10997/wer...

great scene.


I’m the biggest fan of Hackers but that scene has always irked me.

They’re all so impressed with Dade’s knowledge yet he simply appears to be reading the cover title of each book as it gets passed.

Someone please give me a meta explanation that justifies this so that my inner fanboy can sleep better at night. I’ve probably watched Hackers 100s of times. Best love story ever.


The nicknames given to each book is what he's being tested on.

"The dragoon book", "That ugly red book that wont sit on the shelf" and so on.


physical books weren't just given away to anyone who asked back then, so getting a copy of one is an achievement in the first place so the assumption is if you got it, you read it and by reading the title out loud he's saying I know what's in those books, like the anarchist cookbook


Um, I think you mean 1337


not to be mistaken with 31337 ;-)


Oh, hi there! ;^)


I assumed it was short for "distribution", stylised.




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