Editing Systems programming (section)

== Alternative meaning ==
For historical reasons, some organizations use the term ''systems programmer'' to describe a job function which would be more accurately termed [[systems administrator]].  This is particularly true in organizations whose computer resources have historically been dominated by [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]]s, although the term is even used to describe job functions which do not involve mainframes. This usage arose because administration of [[IBM mainframes]] often involved the writing of custom [[assembler code]] ([[IBM Basic assembly language and successors|IBM's Basic Assembly Language]]  (BAL)), which integrated with the [[operating system]] such as [[OS/MVS]], [[DOS/VSE]] or [[VM/CMS]].  Indeed, some [[IBM]] software products had substantial code contributions from customer programming staff. This type of programming is progressively less common, and increasingly done in C rather than Assembly, but the term ''systems programmer'' is still used as the de-facto job title for staff administering IBM mainframes even in cases where they do not regularly engage in systems programming activities.