I guess it depends on whether you consider the end product of the programmer is the software's output or the code in the files the programmer writes. I'd argue the real value of software (and hence the programmer) is not the code itself, but what the code is capable of producing (meaning). I can write software that spits out garbage data but that doesn't make me a very valuable programmer.

Sure, programming is problem solving. The problem trying to be solved is how to use the tools at your disposal to try to create meaning as efficiently as possible. In your analogy, you use an anvil, hammer and fire (compilers, computers, programming languages) to create horseshoes and nails (meaning). Anybody can bang a piece of metal with a hammer but that doesn't make them a blacksmith. They need to produce something that is actually worth something to other people (or at least to themselves).

$PM = "Perl Monk's";
$MCF = "Most Clueless Friar Abbot Bishop Pontiff Deacon Curate";
$nysus = $PM . ' ' . $MCF;
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In reply to Re^2: Mining and war as a metaphor for programming by nysus
in thread Mining and war as a metaphor for programming by nysus

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