In the beginning of the age of the modern computer, programmers worked around the clock, creating code for their employers for use in proprietary computer systems. These elite programmers enjoyed challenging one another and frequently enjoyed stretching modern systems to their limits. These programmers became know as "hackers" for their talents at dissecting and working around difficult problems, often searching for the most elegant or most efficient solution possible. Unlike the vision of hackers as portrayed by the 1990's media., these hackers refrained from any illegal activities. The best hackers viewed such things as breaking into computer systems as immature and childish. The media derives their definition of a hacker from only a small subset of the hacker culture which did engage in illegal activities. Such a blatant generalization and stereotypical attitude only encourages hackers to stick together and prove to the world that legitimate working-class professionals constituted...