Understanding Code

Code is a language a computer can understand.

This was my first attempt at a definition, but after looking at some code this morning I realized it is inadequate. People use Language, it is one of their unusual accomplishments. But nothing else can use it.

Scientists have worked hard at trying to get dolphins to use a language, but they have failed. Dolphins make a lot of social noises (that we cannot understand) but they are not a language.

Computers cannot use a language either. They are just a machine that uses Software, but that is not a language. What is it?

To answer this I would have to go into the history of Computers, and the invention of Software by Ada Lovelace.

Computers and Software just happened, and we have had to live with them, for better or worse. You have to pick one programming style and use it until that becomes too painful.

This is like our use of domesticated plants and animals. We use them, but then replace them with a better model, when one becomes available. This process only takes a year or two in the case of Software.