what is a developer?

[Mutant]

Hi,

I am a bit confused about what a developer does and doesn’t do. I’ve heard of analysis of requirements, technical spec. and programming. I‘ve also heard about types of applications as for example, ERP, Business Intelligence, intranets, operating systems, finally I’ve heard about project managers, analysts, programmers, etc…. what is a software developer? What should a developer know to develop software?…

For example if I am developing operating systems what languages do I use? Or if I am doing ERPs what languages do I have to learn? And if the developer’s work includes designing specs. What language do I use for that? Or do I use paper and pen? Can I do everything with VB?

I'm sorry.... too many questions ... would like ur opinions to clarify this.

Thanks

[Jmacp]

A dev is somebody who basically writes or debugs code.

Well if you were writing an OS it would be written in C,C++ or Assmebler most likely a mix of these 3 pretty much, also using a bunch of API's like the win32 API, DirectX, and other custom API's.

There are loads of languages here's a few,

• C
• C++
• C#
• VC++.NET
• Java/JavaSript
• Delphi
• VB
• VB.NET
• Assembler
  
  lots more..........
  
  Web launguages
  
• ASP
• ASP.NET
• HTML
• DHTML
• XML
• PHP
• CGI Script
  many , many more........
  
  Database Lan
  
• SQL
• T-SQL

and more..........

[NoteMe]

Originally posted by Jmacp
A dev is somebody who basically writes or debugs code.

Well if you were writing an OS it would be written in C,C++ or Assmebler most likely a mix of these 3 pretty much, also using a bunch of API's like the win32 API, DirectX, and other custom API's.

How would you do that?

[Mutant]

dev is somebody who basically writes or debugs code

Jmacp,

and who designs what the developers/coders write? I mean how do you call them? I've heard of people who do this kind of job but never write a line of code.

[szlamany]

I've been in the computer programming field for 25 years. I started as just a coder. I took direction from the CTO of the company, on what his vision was and then delivered just that.

After a few years, the company grew and I became the "R & D Group Leader". That meant I had 6 programmers working for me and I pretty much was an "analyst" - but giving me that title probably would have rubbed the CTO wrong...

Beside the 6 programmers I even had a librarian - very helpful in the group - kept our code in libraries - did our backups.

I've been on my own now for 15+ years. That means I'm both the analyst and the coder. I have some high school kids working for me - they code for me as well - since we have so much code to deliver.

I've worked on larges teams at insurance companies where the structure was very strict.

Analysts met to decide what the coders were going to do.

Coders did some work.

Coders met weekly to "peer review" each others work

After a routine/program was deamed to be done, it was "peer reviewed" for release and then delivered to the "production team"

We never even met the "production team" - they were on a different floor.

If they found a problem - you were toast, and the whole cycle started again.

But that paid $150/hr - so I would jump through hoops for that.

[szlamany]

BTW...

System Analyst is high level - system architecture type design

Programmer Analyst is next level down - takes the SA dreams and makes coding assignments from that.

[techgnome]

Here's how I see it:
A programmer is someone who codes and or debugs code. That's all they do.
If they write sepecs of create designs for the programmer, then they become a developer. They "develop" the solution.
The project manager is one more step up from that.
A systems analyst does the same job as a developer with the added job of studying current business practices/processes for the customer and designing solutions to fit.


TG

[szlamany]

An OS would always be written in ASSEMBLER - you must have nothing between your code and the machine language - to accomplish that.

You can prototype an OS with a language like C - but actual product would have to be in the lowest level language available for that hardward platform.

Note that chip makers talk to OS shops and put features on the chip to accomplish tasks at a lower level.

It's really good to learn low level programming languages - that removes the mystery of how things are really done. Strings and memory management seem so trivial in VB, but when you understand what happens below - that's great.

Then again, it's really good to know a high-level language rich in features - like VB - because GUI design is what you might actually make your living with.

It really depends what you end goals are.

[techgnome]

Originally posted by szlamany
BTW...

System Analyst is high level - system architecture type design

Programmer Analyst is next level down - takes the SA dreams and makes coding assignments from that.

Actualy it's been my experience that programmer anaysts are called systems analyst since that seems to be what they are doing more and more, analyzing existing systems, etc. While the over all architecture type stuff is being handled by Lead Architects or System Architects.....

TG

[szlamany]

Do they keep creating more titles so that we get paid less - having to climb more ladder rungs??



Personnally, though - since I've been on my own for so long, I would never give my proprietary rights to someone who's only looking to sell the company and cash out

[Memnoch1207]

Originally posted by szlamany
Do they keep creating more titles so that we get paid less - having to climb more ladder rungs??

Yes! Exactly.
Once you get down to the developer level. You are pretty much working either in a mop closet or stinky horse stable.
They feed you every other day and you must meet a daily coding quota. Mine is 600 lines of code a day. Or else I am trampled by the owners stallion in the next stall.

Occasionally, they let us outside for some exercise, but it ususally consists of running in circles with a rope tied to around our throats.

It isn't a bad existence. It could be worse. I could be a database adminstrator!....arrggghhhh...I get chills just thinking about their job...It's just too gruesome to discuss.

Anyway, my master...err...boss is coming and I must leave, before he whips me again...

[Mutant]

Now that i've read your posts I can use the correct terms ... and comment more...

to summarise what you said:

a client has problems....

a system analyst identifies the problems and design solutions
a program analyst transforms the initial design in something that can be coded
and finally a coder writes the program.

for some, all of them can be called developers as they collaborate in the process
but for others only coders are developers as they are the ones who really create the programs....

this makes sense... i have some experience in this area, but from where i come from everybody does everything , there were no clear division about responsibilities or standards


...talking about database administrators...
the one at my previous job was a real pain in the ... neck.

this person thought he had the right to audit every single application and acted as if he was the boss... is this rigth?

who do developers report to?

[szlamany]

The DBA is in a nasty position - they will be hung out to dry if the data fails.

Beside the obvious backup issues for the data - which they better handle or really get fired...

They have us programmers who put code in that can destroy data.

That gives them the right to be leary of code changes - so I can see there desire to audit changes.

But working this proactively means they should note when a code change is coming into production - deal with saving the data before that change gets applied - then deal with data review after the change to make sure it's clean. That would be a very strong DBA.

I have additional contracts with some of my customers to be there DBA. For this I pretty much setup maintenance plans in SQL.

[Memnoch1207]

Developer - Develops it
Analyst - Analyses it
Architect - Reviews the structure of it
DBA - Guards it.

Here how I have generally experienced it.

The architect determines the over all structure of the application.
The DBA dictates the design of the back end.
The Analyst organizes the business logic
and
The developer writes the code.

I have been in all of these positions, except architect.

I like being a developer though...I like dirty, smelly horse stables!

[szlamany]

Originally posted by Memnoch1207
Developer - Develops it
Analyst - Analyses it
Architect - Reviews the structure of it
DBA - Guards it.

and Retailer Sells It!!

[mendhak]

Thanks to you guys, I am now totally confused as to my role in this current project.

I seem to be a hybrid of a developer and an analyst.

Thanks a lot. Now I won't sleep peacefully tonight.

[szlamany]

developing=confusion/programming

The bigger "programming" becomes, the smaller "confusion" becomes yielding a developer closer to 1.

I think I might be on to something here

[Mutant]

Another question for you guys…

I’ve read recommendations about learning as many languages as we can, that would give us more value in the development market… but don’t we need to decide beforehand the KIND of software we want to develop? (games, embedded, business applications, etc) And then, decide on the languages we need to learn…

What’re your recommendations? How do we find out where our abilities lay?

[hellswraith]

Originally posted by mendhak
Thanks to you guys, I am now totally confused as to my role in this current project.

I seem to be a hybrid of a developer and an analyst.

Thanks a lot. Now I won't sleep peacefully tonight.

Same here, my business card needs to get bigger because I can't fit all of the titles that Memnoch1207 mentioned. I perform all of them at the same time. This means that the dba isn't as angry though....

[Mutant]

This might be of your interest.

a "programmer" is someone who does nothing but code new features and [if you're lucky] fix bugs. They don't write specs. They don't write automated test cases. They don't help keep the automated build system up to date. They don't help customers work out tough problems. They don't help write documentation. They don't help with testing. They don't even read code. All they do is write new code.

Instead of "programmers" (people that specialize in writing code), what you need are "developers" (people who will contribute in multiple ways to make the product successful).

Source: Hazards of Hiring