Is a software developer and a computer application programmer the same thing? If yes, thanks for answering If no, please explain why. Sorry for the 'dumb' question.
For all intents and purposes they are the same.... "application" is more of an in term at the moment over software.
They aren't the same. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_developer A developer is an engineer while an applications programmer is more of a technician. For example, a software developer might architect a system that provides a spreadsheet. The applications programmer might write some dialogs within a framework in that spreadsheet system. Application programming is a much smaller subset of software development.
It is symantics.... at my previous employers people building massive mainframe systems who were at the top of their game earning big salaries were called application developers
Developping a project is the main part, programming comes as a finalization of the project. [if you want to have a solid application, not a salad of code...]
Most companies get the titles wrong. Witness the number of companies that call programmers "software engineers." Your application developers weren't writing the operating system on the mainframe, were they? Or were they developing applications on top of something a software developer built? My statements had nothing to do with respect or how much money the various titles make. I was just pointing out the generally accepted functions within the field.
They were writing programs that ran on the servers and the client front ends to them. I think that it is one of those things that is fairly common with the english language having one of the largest dictionaries, there is an technical distinction between them (hence why we have two seperate words) but in common use the original distinction has been lost.
Or it's what happens when non-technical people (HR) determine what a job is called. And they will use the title to help sell the position.