[xenonite]

Depends on whom you ask. For many if not most computer people, "hacking" is synonymous to coding, and indeed something very positive.

In the public however, "hacking" is often more used synonymous to "cracking", which I find very unsettling and sad. At least there is nowadays some awareness that there is a different meaning to it. I guess that the word "hackathon" helped to change the public perception.