And what is a "hacker" to begin with? I believe he meant the hacker which is defined here http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.catb.org/esr

And what is a "hacker" to begin with? I believe he meant the hacker which is defined here http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html, and not that you should invent the wheel avoiding other products (no problem should ever have to be solved twice), on the contrary, you should fill in the gaps when it's possible (the world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved). That's the true hacker attitude, not whining.