Question
Attention to details such as terminology can be important in technical writing. When making software, should you use the term build, create, develop, grow, produce or write?
Answer
We think that context matters. It seems that the terms write or build are often ideal when you are describing the process for creating/producing a software product, application or "work."
Richard Stallman said 'I think it is ok for authors (please let's not call them "creators", they are not gods) to ask for money for copies of their works (please let's not devalue these works by calling them "content").' (This quote was taken from https://web.archive.org/web/20171108235001/http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/wsis-pct/2006-April/001115.html)
Fred Brooks said this:
I still remember the jolt I felt in 1958 when I first heard a friend talk about building a program, as opposed to writing one. In a flash be broadened my whole view of the software process. The metaphor shift was powerful, and accurate…
http://worrydream.com/refs/Brooks-NoSilverBullet.pdf
…any software system should be grown by incremental development…
…bit-by-bit it is fleshed out, with the subprograms in turn being developed into actions or calls…
…I find that teams can grow much more complex entities in four months than they can build.