What is a hacker?

What is a hacker?






Everyone seems to have their own little definition of what a hacker is. The press views hackers as people who cause computer mischief, AOLers think hackers who are people who can push buttons on their downloaded proggies, computer nerds and rejects from society claim to be hackers because it makes them feel united and part of a group, crackers who write viruses and crash computers think they're hackers, and all thoses kewl people in those IRC chat rooms call themselves hackers, and so on. So what exactly is hacker? Here's the definition that I think most people would agree with:
hacker 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. (taken from The Hacker's Dictionary)
What exactly does this mean? A hacker is someone who is fascinated by computers, wants to learn more about them and then go beyond that. Hackers seek knowledge, especially forbidden or "secret" knowledge. One thing about being a hacker is to remember that knowledge is good, and should be shared with other hackers.