Best distribution for me?

Hey everyone, I was googling (God knows how many people use Google as a prime resource) a good Linux Distribution for hackers to work on. I chose Linux because you can't read the code of Windows nor truly modify it, so trying to truly hack under Microsoft Windows (And any other closed-source system) is slightly difficult for the beginning/learning hacker. Either way I read that the best place to start was with Unix seeing as it was "An operating system of the Internet", and the suggestion of Linux came up. I've done some research and came to the conclusion of two distributions to work with first, Gentoo and Slackware. I was wondering if I could get a little help in deciding which to work with first. The whole point of Linux for me is to learn it, run it, tinker with it, read the code, modify it, and just play with it. It's suppose to help me with programming and will hopefully teach me some of the many things in the subject of hacking. When I say hacking I don't mean finding someone's password, or getting into someones computer, seeing as those are all things crackers would do (Which I am learning as well). The difference between hackers and crackers is hackers build things, crackers break them. That is what I have been taught.