Some times, i don't code programs. I know that's a typical of someone perceived as a hacker, but my techniques have always been a typical. For instance, it might surprise readers to know that all of the widely publicized hacks I was involved in - let's call that the "Adrian Classic" period :p - were done using a web browser and Notepad, on dialup, on Windows 98.
If you stop to think about it, this is really a true meta-hack. People who ask to learn how to hack are generally told to install Linux, learn how to code, and experiment with various hacking tools. Much how network administrators learning to secure their systems tend to get the same certifications, read many of the same books. This results in activity that's really more like jousting than hacking - a predefined pattern of attack taking place against a predefined pattern of defense.
When i started Hacking, I learnt how to code, I learned to read code, and I learned how programmers thought, which assumptions they tended to make, and what mistakes their common training tended to cause them to make in common across completely different systems. One example of this is writing access code with the assumption that if failure = no then access = yes. On many systems, I found that by simply removing a username or password field, access would be automatically granted - because there had been no username or password failure, since there had been none to fail, so access was granted.
Because my methods were and are unorthodox, they are rarely detected by intrusion detection systems. They don't resemble common attacks because they aren't common attacks. I often make them up on the spot. Which is why the question "teach me to hack" is so frustrating. This is particularly emphasized by a meme pic I got a Google Alert for this morning: I always give readers free Access to reach me for all kinds of Hacking Issues though : compositehacks@gmail.com