It was only a few years ago that I was seeing people in the computer biz lamenting the loss of the word "hack" (and "hacking," "hacker," etc.) Originally, a hacker was a person who used a computer a lot. That is, a programmer was a type of hacker.
But all that changed when the media needed to talk about people who use computers maliciously. They seized on the word "hacker" to describe these people. And this was at a time when the word was still only vaguely understood by the general public. So the word that had been semi-affectionate term for people with a common interest became a scary and slanderous word only a few steps up from "terrorist." Some computer fans tried to rescue "hacker" by promoting the made-up word "cracker" as a replacement for people who break in to systems. That never got far.
But in the past few years, the positive connotations of hacking have made a comeback. Websites like Lifehacker have promoted the word as a more general term for clever, non-standard action. I'm seeing this new (old) use of "hack" in more and more places, so it's safe to say the public has bought in to the idea that hacking can mean positive things.
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