What is the best word for a place where programmers work?

What is the best word for a place where programmers work?

I'm looking for something like "studio," which is a room where an artist, photographer, sculptor, etc., works or where performers, esp. dancers, practice and exercise.

Thank you.

Why not just use the term "office"?

If an independent company, I think "software shop". If not independent then just "software department".

The acronym "IT" can be used instead of "software", but might infer that technical staff ("talent" consisted of more general technicians, rather than just programmers.

Some of the most commonly-used words for a programmers' workplace have already been mentioned: office, lab (as in computer lab) or laboratory, shop (as in software shop or programming shop), and studio. Other commonly-used terms, not yet mentioned, include workstation (in the sense “an area, at a workplace, for a single worker” as well as “a desktop computer, normally more powerful than a normal PC...”) and cubicle (in the “small separate part or one of the compartments of a room” sense rather than the “small enclosure in a public toilet for individual use” sense).

Less commonly used (but perhaps a good descriptor for some programming environments) is sweatshop (“a factory or other place of work where pay is low and conditions are poor or even illegal”). The ideal word, the best word, for a place where programmers work, is atelier (“A workshop or studio especially for an artist, designer or fashion house”), but it is often not used in this context.

Software companies tend to be called "Software Houses".

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_house

That's less about a place where developers (programmers) work, and more about the company they work for.

As a software engineer myself, I call where I work an office.