AI Can Code, But It Still Can’t Program — Here’s Why That Matters

Ever called someone a coder and noticed their eye twitch a little? Yeah — turns out that tiny word can start a surprisingly big argument in the tech world. But before we dive into the emotional damage caused by three harmless syllables, let’s clear up one thing: coding and programming are not the same thing.

And understanding the difference may even spare you some Twitter wars (and possibly further your career).

Image was genaerated by AI

💡 So What Is Programming, Really?

Let’s skip the dictionary talk.
Programming is basically logic wearing a hoodie.

It’s the act of telling machines what to do and how to think — using logic, patterns, and structure. Think of it like applied math with fewer equations and more caffeine.

Math majors are often great programmers — not because they know how to write a for-loop in Python, but because their brains already speak (sometime quite literally) the language of logic.

In fact, universities have an entire class dedicated to such a thing: Discrete Math for Programmers. It’s math for machines, essentially — or what some describe as the class that distinguishes the future engineers from those who just want to get some sleep.