In golfing circles, a "hacker" is somebody who plays occasionally and not particularly well. In software circles being a hacker used to be somebody who was tec

In golfing circles, a "hacker" is somebody who plays occasionally and not particularly well. In software circles being a hacker used to be somebody who was technically very good. But the media has bestowed the label upon the black hats. Personally, I tend to think more along the old time's definition: as somebody who doesn't do much design, just churns out good to excellent code. Being a professional suggests doing more design and documentation. That is, code that might not be as brilliant, but maintainable by lesser mortals.