There’s a question I know my clients often want to ask but are embarrassed to because they think it’s too basic. There are many aspects of my life where I get the basics of how something happens, but if I sat to think about it, I know I couldn’t answer to my satisfaction a similar question outside my realms of expertise.
The question I rarely hear is “so, just what is code?”
Despite not hearing it regularly, I know it’s a question many would like to know the answer to. It’s just not a very easy question to answer. It’s a bit like asking “so what exactly is the human brain?” For years I’ve been working to develop an answer that doesn’t result in your taking an undergraduate degree in Computer Science. There’s a long history and culture to cover in order to explain what code is, today.
To my delight, this week Paul Ford answered that question with the article What is Code?.
It’s a lengthly article, clocking in at about 38000 words.
It’s a well written article, covering topics from How Do You Type an “A”? to The Importance of C to the hot question du jour, Should You Learn to Code?.
It’s an article that has delighted me and allowed me to return my focus to the more important things in my work and life, creating happy clients and playing with my current foster kittens.