in reply to Boycott O'Reilly

Assuming you're against it because you're of the opinion that 'hacker' means 'bad guy', try reading up on the subject .. (yeah, all links from ESR, such is life).

In short, a hacker is just a programmer.. *Cracker*s on the other hand, are people who break into things..

C.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Boycott O'Reilly
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Jan 22, 2004 at 11:38 UTC
    Assuming you're against it because you're of the opinion that 'hacker' means 'bad guy', try reading up on the subject .. (yeah, all links from ESR, such is life).
    Blech. That's not how natural languages work. Words don't get defined and then never change meaning. New words are created every day. Words fall in disuse all the time. Words change meaning, or get a new meaning next to the old one. Dictionaries describe current and historic usage - they follow the evolution of a language, they don't lead the way.

    For many people "hacker" means "bad guy". Regardless how much ESR writes, that means that (the|a) meaning of "hacker" is what "cracker" means as well.

    Abigail