Should programmers know how to hack

[Snaksa]

Hello! I have a friend that always tells me that he has hacked something or have made a DDOS attack against a site. I'm currently studying programming for around 2 years and I have no idea how he is doing this. I have read many books about C++ programming that include OOP and data structures and my goal is to become a good programmer. But is it necessary to know how to hack if you want to be a programmer? Should I be able to make a DDOS attack if I want to become a programmer?

[MrHutch]

No.

Unless your job involves prevention against such attacks.

[Cubbi]

Depending on what exactly you're programming, it may be helpful to be able to recognize a potential for a DDOS or other potential vulnerabilities - programming textbooks usually ignore these issues. Once you look at a few exploits, you'll never write scanf("%s" again, and your code reviewer will have less work to do.

[Snaksa]

But how can I learn these things if they are not mentioned in any book. The problem is that I don't know from where to start. Should I first learn how to make DDOS attacks?

[LB]

You don't have to understand how to drop a cell phone into water in order to understand how to make it waterproof.

[closed account yv46URfi]

a good start...
https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=637

[Computergeek01]

If you don't mind the possibility of being added to a watch list this is a good resource: http://nvd.nist.gov/home.cfm

[SamuelAdams]

If you do, You should probably not include that on your resume with any reputable company. I hope that answers your question.

[Duthomhas]

Programming teaches you stuff about the machine and system you are programming.

So if you spend time working on network systems, then you learn how to crack them (and how to secure them).

[Snaksa]

Thanks to everyone. Looks like I will wait till I need to do something like this (or against it) :D

[Computergeek01]

Looks like I will wait till I need to do something like this (or against it) :D

It will be too late by then. This isn't like looking up the documentation on a function where you can glance at the notes and start using it right away. These things need to be earnestly studied to be understood, at least for me they do.