toolsmith

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
toolsmith
 n.

   The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist; one who
   specializes in making the {tool}s with which other programmers create
   applications. Many hackers consider this more fun than applications
   per se; to understand why, see {uninteresting}. Jon Bentley, in the
   "Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" chapter of his book More Programming
   Pearls, quotes Dick Sites from {DEC} as saying "I'd rather write
   programs to write programs than write programs".
    
from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
toolsmith

   The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist; one who
   specialises in making the {tools} with which other programmers
   create applications.  Many hackers consider this more fun than
   applications per se; to understand why, see {uninteresting}.
   Jon Bentley, in the "Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" chapter
   of his book "More Programming Pearls", quotes Dick Sites from
   DEC as saying "I'd rather write programs to write programs
   than write programs".

   [{Jargon File}]
    

[email protected]