Meh, I'd rather just use "hacker", media be damned.

Maybe my perspective is warped, but I feel like the original meaning of "hacker" is gaining popularity lately. "Hackathons" have made their way into the media thanks to Facebook and Zuckerberg. And of course PG's writing and "Hacker News" are somewhat well known in the tech and startup circles.

Still it's far from the mainstream meaning. In some ways it's cool that it's not, it's almost like a secret handshake. If you know what I mean when I say "hacker" I have a little extra bit of respect for you.

This is not a recent phenomenon. Even in the 80s it had a negative connotation, fueled mostly, I think, by Sherry Turkle's The Second Self (I wonder how many young hackers are aware of that infamous book) where the hacker culture was shown to be macho, masochistic, and closed, see Sex/Machine (http://books.google.com/books?id=vo5b6XA2F30C&lpg=PA369&...) for a summary.

Coder? Programmer?

Although I agree that "hacker" has a new meaning (and has for a long time), much like how the LGBT community adopts otherwise derogatory terms, I don't think we should stop using "hacker" because of outside influences; the actual meaning implied (coder or script kiddie) is often obvious thanks to the context it gets used in (CNN using "hacker" in a news title is different to when Joel Spolsky uses it, for example).

"hacker" is fine. Yes, it's corrupted by the media, but then again, which word hasn't been at one time or another? Name one profession or job title that is always portrayed as positive in the news. Why care at all?

How 'bout "hacker"?

Personally, I kind of like the ambiguity of the term a little bit. It reminds us that things are not always as simple as they seem, that we can't cleanly divide our world into 'friends' and 'adversaries', or place our systems neatly into 'trusted' and 'untrusted' boxes.

I have a colleague who uses the term 'digital thaumaturge.'

    Thaumaturgy is the capability of a saint
    or magician to work miracles. A practitioner 
    of thaumaturgy is a thaumaturge or miracle worker. 

I like the spirit, but it doesn't quite have the cachet of 'hacker.'

Why should we change? They're the ones that suck.

Because sitting below high tide and yelling at the sea is a good way to get your feet wet.

No, you can e.g. spend 12 hours a day hacking some OS kernel and credibly call yourself a hacker. Being a polymath requires a much wider background.

I don't agree. A hacker is first of all characterized by the desire of knowledge and has little to do with coding itself. I don't believe that coding OS kernel all day is sufficient to call yourself hacker indeed.

You could be a "kernel hacker" though, particularly if you're working on kernel-mode device drivers without support from the hardware vendor.

To me, a "hacker" is someone who is involved in finding ways to get systems to perform in a manner outside the intention of its design. E.g., hotrodders could be considered car hackers.

| In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable.

It's not specific to the coding field.

Nor is the term hacker(in the positive sense). In the negative sense it seems to be reserved for coding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club Neither is "Hacker".