Hello by the programmers, so in this article, we will see that what is the difference between a coder, programmer, and a developer. Actually, I thought of writing an article like this after I saw a few posts on Reddit and Facebook, and Instagram because people are pretty much confused about these three terms and they use them interchangeably. As in there isn’t a big crime to use them interchangeably because they are somewhat the same but still they should know that what is the difference between them. So in this article, we will discuss that. The best approach to understand the concept is by using an example.
Coder
For instance, let’s say that you just graduated from college with an engineering degree in computer science so you go to a company. There you say like I have knowledge in these programming languages so first of all you are made a coder. Now, what is a coder? A Coder has knowledge of many programming languages or a few programming languages but lacks the experience of projects.
Hence, logical thinking or the logical approach to any problem is lacking in this code. So coders are usually given the task to convert one piece of code into another language. Like a piece of code in java into python or somewhat a simpler project. This is what the task of a coder is. Now coder is also sometimes referred to as a junior developer or junior programmer. I am pretty sure that you must have heard about these terms. These two terms are also referred to for Coders.
In other words
Let us examine a declaration statement of a java program.
int j=0;
In a programming context, this statement is an INSTRUCTION to the computer. It can not be understood by a human being unless he or she posses special knowledge. In other words, the declaration statement mentioned above is ‘encoded’ information subjected to rules and regulations of the java language. So any INSTRUCTION encoded into ‘java Language’ could be ‘decoded’ by the computing device and execute. So in a normal linguistic sense ‘CODER‘ is someone who can “ ENCODE AND DECODE“.
In the context of SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, the term CODER refers to someone who can encode and decode INSTRUCTIONS into a programming language. In other words, a coder must be capable of encoding and decoding INSTRUCTIONS INTENDED FOR A COMPUTER to and from a programming language. It also means that a CODER SHOULD WRITE AND UNDERSTAND instructions meant for machine execution.
So the requirement for someone to be a ‘CODER’ is
- He must know atleast one programming language.
Programmer
Okay now, what is a programmer? A programmer is just a modified version of the coder. He knows these programming languages like python java and whatever he is asked. So he knows the basics and the concepts of a programming language as well. As he is having some knowledge because he has worked on some projects and now they have some programming some logical approaches to the problems. They also apply the logical approach to a program. Okay, so this is what the programmer is. It’s just a coder only with a few years of experience.
A computer program is nothing but a set of instructions meant for a machine to execute. So anyone who can write a computer program is a programmer.
So the requirements for a ‘PROGRAMMER’ are
- He must be CODER.
- Must have the ability to logically organize and connect the INSTRUCTIONS to produce the desired ‘OUT PUT’.
Developer
Now we come to the Developers. So this actually is quarter plus programmer plus some more things. Obviously, he or she can write codes. He or she can apply logical thinking in that. Additionally, they also do the maintenance and they also write the documentation. Now the documentation is the written explanation of any software or programming language or library or framework. Basically, they know a lot of things about that programming language or that project.
In the domain of Engineering, a developer is someone who participates in the development of the project. So Software developer is anyone who is actively developing a software project.
So the requirements for a ‘SOFTWARE DEVELOPER’ are
1) He must be a programmer.
2) He must be experienced in software projects.
Alright, so this is what these three terms are. The only thing that you need to understand is a coder is someone who knows to program but lacks the logical approach. Obviously, you need some logical approach for programming which is pretty common. But due to lack of project experience or actual field experience he or she has some lacking in logical thinking. The programmer has that logical thinking and the developer does all things plus the maintenance and documentation so this is what these three terms are.
Now, this is what I think these three terms are if you have some other explanation of these three terms then you can write in the comment section below because I also want to learn new things. This is what this page is all about learning and then spreading that knowledge to the maximum audience. If you think I am wrong and I may have said something that is wrong here then you can also comment down below because that’s the way I can learn. Do check other related articles: Seven useful tools for Web Development that every Developer needs, Types of Developers and how to identify them.
