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programmer

American  
[proh-gram-er] / ˈproʊ græm ər /
Or programer

noun

  1. a person who writes code for computer programs.

  2. a person who programs a machine, device, or apparatus.

  3. a person who prepares program schedules, as for radio or television.

  4. a person who prepares instructional programs.

programmer British  
/ ˈprəʊɡræmə /

noun

  1. a person who writes a program so that data may be processed by a computer

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of programmer

First recorded in 1885–90; program + -er 1

Explanation

Someone who writes software or programs for computers is called a programmer. If you develop an application for mobile devices, you can also call yourself a programmer. Programmers use a variety of computer languages to write the code (or instructions) that helps computers do the things their users want them to do. There are programmers who specialize in specific languages which are useful in various industries — some are used by financial institutions and others by scientists, for example. Evidence of the dramatic way things change over time is clear from the shift in this word's meaning: in 1890, a programmer was an "event planner."

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

After Anthropic requested that GitHub remove copies of its proprietary code, another programmer used other AI tools to rewrite the Claude Code functionality in other programming languages.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

That is a sign of the real threat that AI tools for writing code represent to jobs such as software developer, computer engineer and programmer, posts once considered a near-guarantee of highly paid, stable careers.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

Bill Atkinson, a brilliant Apple programmer, kept his eyes on the screen as though they were fixed there by a magnetic field.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

He’s a part-time programmer, landlord and fixes cars.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 24, 2026

Ogden Morrow was a brilliant programmer in his own right, but his true talent was his knack for business.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.