Browsing page 1 of new words for August 15, 2009

noun

• while "hacker" originally had positive connotations, it has since come to refer to individuals who sometimes use computers with malicious intent. For example, a person who breaks into computers that they do not have official access to.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
  
  Citation from "Reeling in the hackers", The Irish Times, Karlin Lillington, February 19 2010 censored in hope of resolving Google's penalty against this site.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
  
  Citation from Communications of the ACM, Volume 27 (1984) censored in hope of resolving Google's penalty against this site.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by Charles B. from Westminster, CO, USA on Jun 16 1999.

• an expert or enthusiast of any kind, provided it involves hands-on work.

  She calls herself a "culinary hacker."

  • See more words with the same meaning: an expert, a fan.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by Walter Rader (Editor) from Sacramento, CA, USA on Aug 14 2009.

• a person who is very good at programming.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
  
  Citation from Communications of the ACM, Volume 27 (1984) censored in hope of resolving Google's penalty against this site.

  Last edited on Nov 04 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Aug 14 2009.

• a person who enjoys exploring computers, making them work better than ever before, and making them solve problems that they've never solved before.
  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Aug 14 2009.

• a person who enjoys creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

  He's a pretty good padlock hacker.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Aug 14 2009.

• a person who is an expert at a particular computer program or computing technology.

  You should ask Tim. He's a real MATLAB hacker.

  I'm trying to become a well-known C++ hacker.

  • See more words with the same meaning: an expert, a fan.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Aug 14 2009.

• a person who frequently does work on a computer, using a particular computer program.

  He's a Unix hacker.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Aug 15 2009.