May 15, 2003

code

1. n. The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to data, which is the stuff that code operates on. Among hackers this is a mass noun, as in How much code does it take to do a bubble sort?, or The code is loaded at the high end of RAM. Among scientific programmers it is sometimes a count noun equilvalent to program; thus they may speak of codes in the plural. Anyone referring to software as the software codes is probably a newbie or a suit.

2. v. To write code. In this sense, always refers to source code rather than compiled. I coded an Emacs clone in two hours! This verb is a bit of a cultural marker associated with the Unix and minicomputer traditions (and lately Linux); people within that culture prefer v. ‘code’ to v. ‘program’ whereas outside it the reverse is normally true.

Posted by Jargon File at May 15, 2003 10:53 AM

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