Use of the word "hacker" to describe a computer programmer
comes from the sports world, where it means "an athlete who
enthusiastically pursues a sport."

Though most people use the word in reference to programmers
who wreak technical havoc or gain illegal entry to computer
systems, the digerati insist that anyone with an
understanding of computers can be called hacker. "Cracker,"
they say, is the correct word for malicious programmers.