Hacker is a synonym of cracker.
In computing terms the difference between cracker and hacker
is that cracker is one who cracks (i.e. overcomes) computer software or security restrictions while hacker is a computer security professional.
As nouns the difference between cracker and hacker
is that cracker is a dry, thin, crispy, and usually salty or savoury biscuit while hacker is something that hacks; a tool or device for hacking.
Etymology 1
From the verb to crack . Hard "bread/biscuit" sense first attested 1739, though "hard wafer" sense attested 1440.Sense of computer (cracker), (crack), (cracking), were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to (hacker), by programmers concerned about negative public associations of (hack), . See .
Noun
(en noun)
- She's an absolute cracker'''! The show was a '''cracker !
citation, page=, passage=And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner. }}
- It stated to one of the company's operators, “The Phantom, the system cracker , strikes again . . . Soon I will zero (expletive deleted) your desks and your backups on System A. I have already cracked your System B.
- Likewise, early software pirates and "crackers " often used phrases like "information wants to be free" to protest the regulations against the copying of proprietary software packages and computer systems.
- What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?
- (Knight)
Derived terms
* crackerless* crackerlike
Synonyms
* biscuit* (twisted string on a whip) popper, snapper* (one who defeats software security) black hat hacker* (one who defeats software security) hacker* (white person) honky, wonderbread, whitey
Related terms
* biscuit (UK)* cookie
Etymology 2
Various theories exists regarding this term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers ("corncrackers"), who cracked'' their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (:I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."
cracker]" in the Online Etymology Dictionary'', Douglas Harper, 2001
"[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-552 cracker" in ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia , John A. Burrison, Georgia State University, 2002
Noun
(en noun)
Synonyms
* (whites) white trash, trailer trash, redneck, peckerwood, honky, (sometimes ) crack head
Quotations
Noun
(en noun)
- Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall, and kicked her in the belly: that afterwards she picked her up, and beat her with the hacker on the side of the head; wiped the blood off with a dish-clout, and took her up to bed after she was dead.
- When the dipping is thus over, the next work is to "chip" or scarify the tree immediately over the box [...]. This is done by an instrument usually called a "hacker ," sometimes "shave." Its form is somewhat like a "round shave," narrowing at the cutting place to the diameter of an inch, with a shank, to be fixed securely into a strong, heavy handle of about two feet in length, while the faces of the trees are low, but the handle is made longer as years advance the faces higher.
- 23. George C. howard, Philadelphia, U.S.
- GRINDSTONE HACKER.
- Report''.--Commended for the contrivance of an instrument, called a "hacker'''," that is used in trimming grindstones. This ' hacker turns with the stone, and is drawn across in a slide rest, and fulfills its important function satisfactorily.
- In January or February the "hacker'," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. [...] About a quart of sap is taken from each box by means of the trowel-shaped scoop used by the dipper, and then the ' hacker comes along and starts the flow afresh by wounding the tree again.
- Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender.
Synonyms
* cracker
Usage notes
* There are significantly more meanings of the word within the United States
hacker- Merriam Webster Online (American English)
than in other English speaking nations.* The use of the word (term) to indicate a person who displays skill, particularly with computers, may be misunderstood
hack; hacker- Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press (British English)
as implying the narrow meaning of unauthorised intrusion into electronic systems (also known as a (cracker) or occasionally (black hat)). This serious misunderstanding in the field of computer expertise is perhaps particularly common outside the United States.* Some computer enthusiasts object to the use of (term) for a person who breaks into computer systems, preferring (cracker) for this sense.
References
See also
** Hacker's dictionary definition of hacker
US only* RFC1392 - Internet Users' Glossary, Jan 1993
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