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While this may be pedantic, I'm curious about the proper usage, if any.

We have a piece of software that opens a file, increments a counter in the file, and closes the file. This piece of software is called Incrementor, but it looks funny to me. I think it should be called Incrementer, as it is one who or thing that performs an increment.

I am a software developer (one who or thing that develops software), not a software developor.

I pay rent, I am a renter, not a rentor.

I increment numbers, therefore I am an incrementer, not an incrementor.

Any thoughts or rules that can help out?

kmort
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    I have been looking at Google.books, and in the context of programming languages it seems both are in usage....so I guess it is mainly opinion based. However, incrementer appears to be more favored. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Aug 01 '19 at 16:58
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    There's a good answer for the 'er' vs 'or' suffix question. Basically, they say if you can change the suffix to 'ion', then 'or' is appropriate. So based on that, 'incrementor' appears to be a correct answer. But 'er' appears to always be an acceptable answer. https://english.stackexchange.com/a/137523/14422 – John MacIntyre Oct 09 '20 at 23:26
  • There's no difference between the -er and -or spellings. One can't tell the difference in speech, hence it's not part of the language. If you want to trace origins, look at the difference between PIE *-ter and *-tor suffixes. One was used for habitual agency and the other was for occasional. That distinction has been lost for centuries, along with the t-, and the difference now is about two entirely arbitrary spellings that convey no information, like theatre and theater. – John Lawler Jul 11 '22 at 18:50

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Apparently both are correct. Look at the answers to this question What’s the rule for adding “-er” vs. “-or” when forming an agent noun from a verb?

Wiktionary entry for -or In Latin-derived words, English generally appends this suffix where Latin would do it—to the root of a perfect passive participle (i.e. past participle). For other words, English tends to use the suffix -er. Occasionally both are used (protester vs. protestor).

Wiktionary and RegDwigнt (author of the accepted answer to the above mentioned stackexchange question) have not provided the source for this piece of information.

Going by the above rule "-or for Latin derived English words", "incrementor" has the -or suffix. As per Wiktionary, "increment" is of Latin origin.

Increment etymology: (Wiktionary) Borrowed from Latin incrementum, from incrēscō (whence increase), from in- + crēscō (“grow”). Equivalent to increase +‎ -ment.

Entry for incrementor (Wiktionary) (computing) That which increments; a computer programming instruction that increments a value.

Entry for incrementer (Wiktionary) (computing) Any device or circuit that carries out an incrementation operation.

However it is unlikely that computer users or software developers would differentiate between these two words in the manner as mentioned above and as found in Wiktionary.

banuyayi
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