Serious question. We had a perfectly serviceable word, yet everyone decided to shift. Is it just that it’s shorter to type?

If so, I feel for your colleagues trying to parse your code when all your variables use abbreviations.

  • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    It’s probably predominantly because of the switch to mobile computing / smartphones / web being dominant, and everyone referring to programs there as “apps” / applications.

    i.e. If you write a mobile app with a function-as-a-service backend, you will never compile what someone would refer to as a “program”, so calling yourself a “programmer” (as-in, someone who makes programs) feels inaccurate and a not helpful description for people. “Coder” (as-in, someone who writes code) is a vaguer in terms of the type of code you write and more accurate in terms of what you spend your time producing.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      15 hours ago

      How is a mobile app or a function-as-a-service not a program though? They are clearly programs, at least to me.

      • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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        11 hours ago

        If you’re a user who grows up using one, and then starts following instructions on how to build one, when are you going to come across the word program?

        It will be app, maybe application, saas software, functions a service, compute as a service etc etc. Hell what most people think of as an “app” is really a collection of applications all working together.

        • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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          11 hours ago

          I see what you mean now, you were talking about what words people use, not whether the definition of the word program applies to something.