“Software is not Just Coding”
I was going to reply to an article about why software is not just about coding. My reaction was this.
Well, duh?
That is why I don’t use the word ‘coding’, as it has the connotation of the act of typing the actual program in a computer.
The word ‘programming’, on the other hand, means to get a computer to do something that you have in mind. If you need to get requirements to accomplish that, that is part of programming. Okay, fine, you like a longer phrase to describe the concept. Software development. Double fine if you want to call it software engineering. Whatever.
So, it is obvious that software is not just coding. Or, more correctly, software development is not just typing in the program you have written. Or the program you have in your mind. You see, once you actually use more precise wordings, it is sort of obvious.
But is the writing of the program the most important aspect of programming? For me, to gauge the importance of any step in a multi-step process, you consider whether it is sufficient and whether it is necessary for the whole process to succeed. The word “importance” is sort of not satisfactory for me.
So, is the writing of the actual program in a programming language sufficient for programming? No. Not in most cases. Unless you are writing a “hello world” level of program. Or something small. Is it necessary? Yes, it is absolutely necessary. Or you have no software. No program.
Now, which other step in the process is necessary? Absolutely necessary? Interesting. Whether any other step is absolutely necessary is a little bit subjective, and on a case-by-case basis. Is requirement gathering necessary? Not absolutely. I mean if you don’t do that, you probably won’t have a good program, even if it produces what you want it to produce. So, that definitely satisfies the definition of programming. Is testing necessary? Same argument. So, the actual writing of the program is necessary for programming. It can be sufficient, depending on the program you are writing. It is probably not sufficient in any kind of half-sophisticated software development. All other steps are necessary for some situations. None of them is absolutely necessary for ALL programs.
There you have it. If you call yourself a programmer, you’d damn need to be able to write programs. I don’t know anything else that is more obvious than that.
