Computer Programmer Definition

Before the Internet became widely used, most custom software development fell in to the category of client/server software. The “client”, in this case, was an end-user's computer and the “server” was often a powerful computer located in a computer room either on-site or off-site. The workload would be shared by both the client and the server. This contrasts with most web development in that most of the work is being performed by the server. The client is usually just responsible for displaying the user interface and forwarding an end-user's requests to the server.

Thus, the computer programmer is the one who would write the code that would run on the client as well as the code that would run on the server. Because the client often had Microsoft Windows installed, there was often less graphic design needed for the user interface because many of the screen elements were standardized.

There is still a lot of client/server development being done today, but does not receive nearly as much attention as anything that is Internet or intranet related.

Related Terms

• Application Developer
• Client/Server Developer
• Programmer
• Programmer/Analyst

Other Definitions