Code

This is an important word in the computer programming business. Code comes from the act of encoding a sequence of instructions for a computational device into some language in some medium. By this, I refer generally to the act of writing a computer program, no matter the encoding scheme or mechanism. So, writing an old Fortran program on paper and then sitting at a keypunch machine to create punched cards with characters that represent code cut into them is logically analagous to sitting at modern computer expressing one's self in Java, or even verbally.

We (computer folks) glibly use code as a verb, as in to program, and as a noun, any manifestation of the act of coding. We prefix the noun with various words as follows:

• source code to indicate it's the original definition of a program consisting of instructions; this is as opposed to various forms created by transformations that code undergoes on its way to being able to being used by a computer

• machine code to indicate that a computer acts on it directly inside its processing core; it really is just a pile of numbers.

• pseudo code to indicate that it is expressed descriptively, typically in a manner that can't lead to being transformed into a form that can be used by a computer to manifest the functionality it describes

• object code to indicate that it has been created by a software translation process (compilation or interpretation) but has not yet reached the machine state because it still contains information that needs to be acted upon by another software process

Somewhere along the line of discussion here, it might be useful for non-computer folks to understand the processes programmers engage when creating software. It is not essential conceptually, but quite possibly helpful to create a real-world picture of a the process that I suggest underpins the software business.