
What is code - henridf
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/
======
kazinator
Originally, "code" referred to machine language. "Programming" meant designing
the computation, and "coding" referred to translating it to machine language.
"Automatic coding" was the term for translating a high level program to
machine code, and it covered compiling and interpretation.

You can read all about it in Grace Hopper's 1955 paper _Automatic Coding for
Digital Computers_.

[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodingPaper_19...](http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodingPaper_1955.pdf)

Though a woman, she talks the masculinized talk:

"The analysis is the responsibility of the mathematician or engineer, the
methods or systems man."

[...]

"The job of the programmer is that of adapting the problem definition to the
abilities and idiosyncracies of the particular computer. He will be vitally
concerned with input and output and with the flow of operations through the
computer. He must have a thorough knowledge of the computer components and
their relative speeds and virtues."

[...]

"It is then the job of the coder to reduce the flow charts to the de- tailed
list of computer instructions. At this point, an exact and comprehensive
knowledge of the computer, its code, coding tricks, details of sentinels and
of pulse code are required."

~~~
humanrebar
> Though a woman, she talks the masculinized talk

I don't think that's accurate. It used to be that "he" and "man" were
understood to be gender neutral in abstract and impersonal cases. Such as "to
boldly go where no man has gone before" and "mankind" and "mailman". During
Hopper's life, English language changed to expunge the ambiguity.

~~~
cirgue
Not only understood, but widely accepted as the grammatically correct general
reference gender. English isn’t the only language to do this.

~~~
paulddraper
Interestingly, the German translation "one" (as in the gender neutral pronoun:
"One must not both eat and talk.") is "man".

------
monadgonad
I don't think this really achieves what it sets out to do, unless it was meant
to be aimed at already very tech-literate people who just don't program yet.
It fails my usual test for laypersons' explanations: would my mum understand
it?

My mum is a smart but non-techie person. I think this article, jumping off
from its irrelevant take on business needs, through a (in my opinion)
backwards diversion that fails to actually explain how computers process and
display text, only then to touch on algorithms before racing off talking about
conferences and how programmers feel about things, doesn't come close in all
that to a solid laypersons' explanation. Soon it's asking you to evalute
chunks of code when, if you are reading this article as someone who wants to
know "what is code?", _you don 't even know what a loop is yet_.

This seems more like "What is tech culture?" for people who are already a part
of tech culture. I think people like it for its animations and interactive
elements, but when you strip those away there's very little actual content
there.

~~~
ChrisSD
Considering this is Bloomberg the intended audience is likely business people.
The "irrelevant take on business needs" is far from irrelevant in this
context. On the contrary, it's describing the type of person this article is
aimed at.

~~~
monadgonad
Good point. I've only seen it shared in very techie circles.

------
tomglynch
This is one of my favourite articles. It's the first one I link to someone
interested in coding or becoming a developer.

Even as a competent programmer, it's worth having a flick through as Paul
Ford's presentation of code as a whole is so engaging and informative.

------
taneq
The 'scrum master' guy in the first chapter is the sort of terrible
communicator who gives technical people a bad name. He either can't or won't
express himself in terms familiar to his audience, instead throwing out a
stream of terms that he knows mean nothing in a bid to appear sophisticated.

~~~
iticu
I actually hated that guy. Who would decide to rewrite an entire CMS in
node.js?!

------
samschooler
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9698870](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9698870)

Also article about its reception:
[https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7740986](https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7740986)

------
foxhop
I think code is data. In this case data to describe how to manage other data.

If you can represent your program with data, you likely should.

------
sethammons
Amusing and whimsical. So.much.content. I enjoyed the end though. I spent
about 17 minutes scrolling through, reading different parts and got to the
end. It called me out for reading nearly 2k works per minute to finish in that
time. haha.

------
mynegation
Needs (2015)

------
enedil
Repost:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9698870](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9698870)

------
Niksko
So you listened to the Tomorrow podcast rerun as well?

I think I skimmed this when it first came out, but after two years working at
a consulting firm where our clients are borderline tech illiterate, this seems
like a pretty decent primer to me. It's not that our clients are idiots
(mostly), it's just that they are lacking 20 years or context. This does a
great job at filling in some of the gaps.

------
eveahe
A favorite article of mine! Paul Ford has continued to write good explainers
for Bloomberg Businessweek (most recently on the Github acquisition:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/github-
is...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-06/github-is-
microsoft-s-7-5-billion-undo-button)) but I've been waiting for him to write
something long form again...

------
mrob
>Some things that aren’t yet computers—dental floss, flashlights—will fall
eventually.

My flashlight (bought before 2015) includes a microcontroller. I think most
flashlights do now.

------
noway421
I wish they would tell the story further, including how the man in taupe
blazer would deliver the project and whether it would be a success or not, and
what would happen past delivery.

------
amelius
Very nice explanation. Now I'm hoping they will do an article on quantum
entanglement in similar vein :)

------
BjoernKW
To answer the question (without having read the article): Code is
communication.

Code is used to communicate your intent to

\- a machine

\- others working on the same problem or application

\- your future self

------
apaprocki
Obligatory source code:
[https://github.com/BloombergMedia/whatiscode](https://github.com/BloombergMedia/whatiscode)

(I have a merged PR in there... do you? :))

------
ulises314
Baby don't hurt me...

~~~
shabbyrobe
This song popped straight into my head too!

Before the humourless downvote-brigade gets you, here is the song for those
unfamiliar: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5G1FmU-
ldg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5G1FmU-ldg)

