> I have a scale:
>
> Hacker elite
> advanced hacker
> good hacker
> Basic hacker
> script kiddie who knows their a script kiddie<-I am here,
> boardering basic hacker.
> Adv script kiddie
> Script kiddie
> Wannabe
>
> Of course, those rate only skill. They say nothing about how the
> hacker/cracker uses that skill.
Here is the 'official' definition, according to the Hacker Jargon File:
=
hacker: n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person
who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch
their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the
minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively)
or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3.
A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at
programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who
frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions
1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An
expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for
example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively
overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler
who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence
`password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is
cracker.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community
defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of
some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker
(http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html) FAQ. It also implies
that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker
ethic (see hacker ethic).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself
that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy
based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There
is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a
hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled
bogus). See also wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the
hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it
was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and
electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
===
In the elite section you have Wizard, Guru and Demigod.
The best descriptions of these are those in the hacker jargon file:
=
wizard: n. 1. Transitively, a person who knows how a complex piece of
software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); esp. someone who can
find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she
has general hacking ability, but is a wizard with respect to something only
if he or she has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker
could become a wizard for something given the time to study it. 2. The term
`wizard' is also used intransitively of someone who has extremely high-level
hacking or problem-solving ability. 3. A person who is permitted to do
things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a
system. 4. A Unix expert, esp. a Unix systems programmer. This usage is well
enough established that `Unix Wizard' is a recognized job title at some
corporations and to most headhunters.
guru: n. [Unix] An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history
of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a
qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in `VMS guru'.
demigod: n. A hacker with years of experience, a world-wide reputation, and
a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used
by or known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a
genuine demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker
community and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and
Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of Unix and C), Richard M. Stallman (inventor
of EMACS), Larry Wall (inventor of Perl), Linus Torvalds (inventor of
Linux), and most recently James Gosling (inventor of Java). In their hearts
of hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and
more than one major software project has been driven to completion by the
author's veiled hopes of apotheosis.
==
Finally, here is the definition of Cracker from the same source:
==
cracker: n. One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers
in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier
attempt to establish `worm' in this sense around 1981-82 on Usenet was
largely a failure.
Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against the the
