Coding vs Programming vs Development, What is the difference?

The terms Coding and Programming are often found in similar places and sometimes used interchangeably. You will also come across terms like Hacking that are used with similar meaning.

Personally, I have always used the terms interchangeably and believe that you will come to no harm using these terms as you see fit.

To be honest this is all a bit of semantics and whether you call it coding, programming, developing or hacking, while wasting your time worrying about which word to use you could be using that time to learn more.

If you want to get involved with programming or coding, check out the Guide for beginners – What is Programming or Coding?

So back to the semantics there is a difference between the terms. Coding is the process of entering the code in the language of your choice with the hope the computer will follow the steps in the right order and the logic is sound.

Rarely does this happen on its own and to produce a piece of code that meets the outcome successfully will require designing the solution, debugging any problems, testing the code amongst other things.

So Coding is a subset of Programming but you will still find the terms used interchangeably in many different ways and should not get too hung up on the meaning.