A programmer and a computer scientist may not be 1-1 but there is significant overlap. Correlation may not directly imply causation but you can't discount it.

A programmer and a computer scientist may not be 1-1 but there is significant overlap. Correlation may not directly imply causation but you can't discount it. Whereas being a "hacker" has very little overlap with either programming or Computer Science. You can be a "hacker" in any number of disciplines. If you want to be a great Computer Scientist, learn Computer Science but you'll also most likely have to learn some programming. If you want to be a great programmer, do a lot of programming but you'll also most likely have to learn computer science. If you want to be a great hacker, figure out what that means to you.