Marcus Cake

My definition of the word hacker has evolved. From programmers cracking computer security (called crackers) to my modest efforts to improve my golf and, now, to skilled people contributing to online networks that reflect their passions and interests. A hacker has the tenacity and persistence to solve problems, often for the sake of solving it. They have the vision of architects, the skills of engineers and empathy of a mother with her upset child. They make significant sacrifices in pursuit of their goal. They navigate around, or though, barriers in their path. They do not rest (if inspired) until the problem is solved, or the challenge is overcome. If only my golf, could be described in these terms.

Online networks will be an essential tool of hackers. The will capture and focus the unique contribution of other hackers. Collective talent, energy and innovation will reshape industrial, social and political frameworks over the next decade.
The articles below provide an additional information. I encourage you to read the originals.

Hacker definition controversy, Wikipedia, Extracted in March 2007

• The terms hacker and hack have controversial definitions. Among some computer programmers in good standing with the technical community, the words hacker and hacking are used more often in the admiring or awed sense of a skilled software developer.People favoring this usage typically look with dismay on the usage of the term as a synonym for security cracking.
• In the non-technical community, the word hacker most often describes someone who “hacks into” a system by evading or disabling security measures.
• “A Hacker is any person who derives joy from discovering ways to circumvent limitations.” — Bob Bickford (computer and video guru) in MicroTimes, December 1986.
• The term “hacker” also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network. For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the ‘How To Become A Hacker’ FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic). It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome.
• 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. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.
  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.

Paul Graham provided an interesting insight into Hackers by providing an analogy with painters.

Extract:

• What hackers and painters have in common is that they’re both makers. Along with composers, architects, and writers, what hackers and painters are trying to do is make good things. They’re not doing research per se, though if in the course of trying to make good things they discover some new technique, so much the better.
• Unlike architects (who figure out what to build) and engineers (who figure out how), great hackers and painters do both.
• In hacking, like painting, work comes in cycles. Sometimes you get excited about some new project and you want to work sixteen hours a day on it. Other times nothing seems interesting.
• Like painting, most software is intended for a human audience. And so hackers, like painters, must have empathy to do really great work. You have to be able to see things from the user’s point of view.
• Empathy is probably the single most important difference between a good hacker and a great one. Some hackers are quite smart, but when it comes to empathy are practically solipsists. It’s hard for such people to design great software, because they can’t see things from the user’s point of view.
• So while I admit that hacking doesn’t seem as cool as painting now, we should remember that painting itself didn’t seem as cool in its glory days as it does now.
• Painting was not, in Leonardo’s time, as cool as his work helped make it. How cool hacking turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium.