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.