A person or organization that designs and writes software. The term generally refers to the commercial software field, but it may also refer to employees creating internal applications within an enterprise. The developer job title has become very popular in the 21st century, and it is often used synonymously with "programmer." However, a developer implies more than just coding. Developers are typically involved with the user interface as well as the programming, although one person may not be responsible for both. See
UI designer,
user interface and
developer experience.
Software Is All About Developing
The software business is a service industry that involves human thinking almost exclusively. This contrasts with computer hardware or any other industry that makes equipment, whereby manufacturing is a major part of the business.
The only physical manufacturing in software is the CD or DVD package for retail sales; however, very few applications find their way to a store shelf these days because software distribution is almost entirely via the Web. When ordering online, optical media are sometimes an extra-cost option for backup. See
software publisher,
software engineer,
programmer and
systems programmer.