programming

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The activity of writing the code that makes up a computer program.

   Modern programming often involves piecing together libraries other developers have already written.

   He switched careers and now teaches programming at a local college.

   Similarcoding, development

   Note

   In computing the word names work, not a thing. A project needs a certain amount of programming, just as it needs a certain amount of testing, so you ask how much rather than how many. The product of that work is a program. Once the instructions sit inside a device and run it, the word shifts to the controlling-software sense.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The software that controls a machine, together with the logic built into it; its operating instructions.

   Technicians updated the elevator's programming to improve its response time.

   The drone's programming automatically returns it home when the battery runs low.

   Similarsoftware, firmware, code

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The designing, scheduling, and planning of the shows broadcast by a radio or television station.

   The network's evening programming leans heavily on reality competitions.

   Public radio programming includes a mix of news, music, and interviews.

   Similarlineup, schedule, output

   Note

   A broadcaster's word for the whole lineup rather than any single show. A network has programming the way a library has holdings, so it usually takes no plural. It is what gets shuffled when a station moves its shows around, and a network can change its programming to catch out viewers who record by the clock. Evening programming and public radio programming are typical pairings.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The design and scheduling of a performance, such as the selection and ordering of works in a ballet.

   The new director's programming favored contemporary choreographers over classical staples.

   Bold programming gave the orchestra's season an experimental edge.

   Similarrepertoire, selection, curation

5. 5
   noununcountable

   An automatic reaction that has been conditioned into someone through repeated training or experience.

   Therapists work to undo the emotional programming laid down in early childhood.

   His instant guilt was programming, not genuine remorse.

   Similarconditioning, training

   Note

   Psychology borrows the computer's vocabulary here, speaking of a habit drilled in by experience as if it had been coded. The word is usually uncountable, but it can take a plural when the responses are counted one by one: David R. Hawkins writes of "accidental programmings" in The Eye of the I (2016). Unlike brainwashing, nothing implies that anyone did it on purpose.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The forcible reshaping of a person's beliefs and loyalties against their will; brainwashing.

   Defectors described the regime's programming as relentless and total.

   The film depicts the slow programming of recruits into unquestioning loyalty.

   Similarbrainwashing, indoctrination, conditioning

   Oppositedeprogramming

7. 7
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of program.

   He is programming the thermostat to lower the heat at night.

   Programming the satellite took the team several months.

   Note

   The doubled m is the detail to watch: program ends in a single m, but the -ing form doubles it. After be it is a participle (he is programming the thermostat). Standing alone it is a gerund that can head a sentence (programming the satellite took months). Every meaning of the verb passes through it, from writing code to scheduling a broadcast to conditioning behavior.

8. 8
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of programme.

   The producers are programming next month's concert series.

   Programming the radio schedule is the station manager's main task.

   Note

   Here the spelling split disappears. Programme is the British standard spelling of program, but dropping the final e and adding -ing gives exactly the form the American base produces, so the participle never reveals which convention a writer follows. The split survives in the base word: British writers rarely use programme for software, keeping program there even when they write programme for a broadcast.

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