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Comment by boffinism | Hacker News Reader

What's a computer code?

> What's a computer code?

The book "Working with Coders" [1] by Patrick Gleeson might answer that for you. On page 4 it says that the author is going to "assume that you don't know the first thing about computer code" and goes on to imply that the book will explain it.

I'm somewhat confused that you have to ask, though, since your HN "about" says "boffinism.com / patrickgleeson.com", and based on the content of those sites you appear to be the author of that book.

Did you not read it while you were writing it? :-)

Or was you comment a clever ploy, hoping someone would read your HN "about", see that you clearly know what "computer code" is, and call you on it, thereby generating some free publicity for your book?

If so, well played you magnificent bastard [2].

[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/148422700X/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

[2] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBasta...

I mean, I was really just facetiously pointing out that computer code is a mass noun, so we are all used to talking about _some_ computer code, but not so much _a_ computer code.

But... Thanks for the bump!

Apparently it's about computer science / information technology contributions to science as a whole:

    Fortran compiler 
    Fast Fourier transform 
    Biological databases 
    General circulation model of the climate 
    BLAS 
    NIH Image / ImageJ / Fiji 
    BLAST 
    arXiv 
    IPython Notebook / Jupyter 
    AlexNet

Interesting that they do not list the internet itself.

I would like to nominate several newer software-heavy projects that have moved humanity forward.

    * CERN LHC
    * Event Horizon Telescope
    * LIGO

LIGO used my computer code (pyglobus) to move data around! I was very proud of that.

I think the OP was referring to the unfortunate phrasing.

For a publication like Nature to use baby-talk phrasings that are just semantic nonsense.

Im not a native English speaker, but I would be embarrassed if I wrote that headline.

For a scientist who uses computers but not to write software, it's probably forgivable. It seems even more forgivable for a journalist.

It's a boffinism! Some fields/sectors do use it like a mass noun as you point out. Often refers to a set of routines or a library. So something like "ocean model codes" means packages of routines or libraries for ocean weather simulation.

Exactly. The title sounds like CPU instructions; but the article reads as "pieces of software".

ESL-speak for many things related to programming.

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