7, on a Timex Sinclair 1000, BASIC language.

Ok, let's set the record straight here shall we? The term hacker has for a long time had the wrong conotation and I'd like to correct a few misconceptions. First off, the negative individuals should be appropriately named crackers which are black hats (they break security). The white hats are called ethical hackers - lest we forget that personal computing started with individuals like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, both of whom by appropriate definition were indeed hackers. A hacker essentially for all intents and purposes is a programmer. Captain Crunch was a cracker, he cracked the security of phone systems. Now, to get the appropriate training on becoming an ethical hacker, I strongly recommend that you attend the SANS institute workshop on Ethical Hacking. If you want to practice hacking on your own, fire up a virtual machine and have at it. Never attempt to try practicing on any system unless you have explicit written concent from the target or you are setting yourself up for a fall.