I could think of many salient differences between hammering nails and programming in C, but the simplest one is: Its impossible to do any kind of real carpentr

I could think of many salient differences between hammering nails and programming in C, but the simplest one is: Its impossible to do any kind of real carpentry job to completion using only a hammer. Thus, a 'hammer carpenter' is derogatory because you would not expect them to produce anything useful. C developers produce, and continue to produce complete, useful software. There are also things like "A hammer carpenter doesn't have to spend a significant amount of career development time keeping up with the state of the art in nail compilers or wood instruction sets." C programming is a specialisation in a complex field, and such specialisations often deserve their own title. Calling someone a neurosurgeon is like calling them a hammer carpenter. Everyone should be a GP. A previous commenter mentioned 'helicopter pilot'. You wouldn't see a topic saying "Calling someone a helicopter pilot is like calling them a hammer carpenter." It's likely that a helicopter pilot has experience flying fixed-wing planes, but their _value_ comes from specialising in a particular craft, so they're likely better at it, and that's what they advertise themselves as.