The changing meaning of the word "hacker"
I have notice that while being here in AO that people are very passioate(sp?) about the term hacker and cracker and the difference between them. And I'm fed up with people bitching about the difference, so I have done some reasearch into weather or not the meaning of the word "hacker" has changed (just like other words do e.g. gay)
And this is what I have found
www.yourdictionary.com
Quote:
hack·er1
(click to hear the word) (hkr)
n. Informal
One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff.
One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file.
One who enthusiastically pursues a game or sport: a weekend tennis hacker.
so here hacker means both cracker and hacker
dictionary.reference.com
Quote:
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
[Buy it]
hack·er1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hkr)
n. Informal
One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff.
One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file.
One who enthusiastically pursues a game or sport: a weekend tennis hacker.
again the same result
www.dict.org
Quote:
hacker n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 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. 2. One who programs enthusiastically
(even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing
about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4.
A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a
particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it;
as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and
people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind.
One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the
intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing
limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover
sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker',
`network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
This surports that hacker and cracker are different
dictionary.cambridge.org
Quote:
from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
hack (COMPUTING) verb [I] [+ adverb or preposition]
to get into someone else's computer system without permission in order to find out information or do something illegal:
Computer hacking has become very widespread over the last decade.
A programmer had managed to hack into some top-secret government data.
hacker noun [C] (ALSO computer hacker)
someone who hacks into other people's computer systems
show the meaning has changed
As you can see even the internet dictionarys(sp?) dont agree, so what does everyone else think?
Has the meaning of the word hacker changed (weather we like or not)?
SittingDuck
