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Glite Dictionary
to hack on

to hack on

1 8.2
To fix or change a computer program quickly until it works
  • phrasal verb
  • /hæk ɑn/
  • Jargon
translation icon : modificar
  • Knowing what needed to be built, we each started hacking on a piece.

so yeah. So I started hacking on Volumex on nights and weekends,

Examples

  • So a couple of the guys quickly hacked on some sounds that play on the Raspberry Pi that's inside it.

  • For working on something, I then clone the bridge repo, hack on it, push back into the bridge repo, and push from the bridge repo into Git.

    Blog text (14)

  • There are a lot of good projects out there to hack on.

    Blog text (11)

  • And so they want to hack on some open source thing and they don't understand it.

  • If you are a developer, grab the code and start hacking on whatever draws your attention.

    Blog text (26)

  • so yeah. So I started hacking on Volumex on nights and weekends,

    Julian Dorey

  • I'm a French guy living in Luxembourg, and during my free time, I hack on Banshee and other Mono-related stuff.

    Blog text (12)

  • I don't knowingly know of any females that are interested in hacking on the Linux kernel or on Apache.

    Blog text (11)

  • Similarly, those who wanted to hack on the language were bifurcated by the closed-source DMD compiler and the slow-moving GDC frontend.

    Blog text (21)

  • As a software engineer, I love to hack on small projects in my spare time.

Synonyms

to hack
vsto hack on
  • Jargon
15 5.5

To change computer code quickly to make it work

is more improvised and piecemeal and focuses on making it work
to reprogram
vsto hack on
  • Specialized
14 4.1

Change a device's instructions or settings so it works differently

is done in an improvised piecemeal way rather than by planned changes

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Thorough

rewrite
  • Specialized
3 7.2
refactor
  • Specialized
1 6.9
patch
  • Specialized
75 3.8
to hack on
  • Jargon
1 8.2
tweak
28 3.9
to tinker
47 4.5

Surface Forms

hack on infinitive
hacked on past
hacked on past participle
hacking on present participle
hacks on third person singular

Morphology

hack + on

The meaning follows directly from combining 'hack' (to jury‑rig or alter software in an ad hoc way) with 'on' (indicating continued or persistent action): together they mean to keep hacking at or working on the program. This verb+particle composition is compositional and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Hack on comes from the image of someone hacking at wood or metal with quick, rough cuts to make parts fit. Programmers 'hack on' code in the same way, making fast, rough changes until the program 'works', so the phrase means to fix or change something quickly until it works.