Ask HN: am i a "coder" or a "programmer"

[yunus]

i can understand code very well regards less of which programming language it is.

some time i can't understand the algorithms

i like coding in scripting languages

i don't think of optimizing the code or efficiency of the code

i love open source project because i get to explore the code and get to know how that works

leave the comments please

[chrisacky]

If you have to ask, you are neither. </non serious answer>

<more serious answer>

At what point did we start creating such nonmenclature by which you are either one or the other. They aren't mutually exclusive, and by most accounts, 99.9999% they are the same.

I tell people that I am a coder.

</more serious answer?

[gamechangr]

Exactly right.

[dkersten]

IMHO programmer, coder and software developer are different words for the same thing. Do you write code, program a computer or develop software? Or are they actually the same thing?

[DanBC]

A programmer create algorithms and structures but without using a specific language. Maybe using things like pseudo code or "Jackson Structured Programming" or etc.

A coder will take the work of a programmer and turn it into usable, compilable, code written in a language.

They are often the same person. Often the "programming" is done at the same time as the "coding".

[dkersten]

You are the only person Ive talked to who has such a strict definition for the terms. Everyone else seems to either use them interchangeably or has very loose definitions.

[abrad45]

http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...

[stonemetal]

What do you believe the difference between the two to be? In US English I am unaware of a difference between the two in either denotation or connotation.