[Beowulf] "Code" vs. "Codes"

[Geoff Galitz]

You got me curious about this so I did a little looking around, and found
the following:

 

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 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/00-database-info?db=foldoc> Free
On-line Dictionary of Computing -
<http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=codes&ia=foldoc> Cite This
Source -  <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/codes#sharethis#sharethis>
Share This 

codes 
1. Programs. This usage is common among scientific computing people who use
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercumputers> supercumputers for
heavy-duty  <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/number%20crunching>
number crunching.
2. Something to do with
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cryptography> cryptography.
[ <http://dictionary.reference.com/go/http:/www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/> The
Jargon File]
(1994-10-28)


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe

 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/00-database-info?db=jargon> Jargon
File -  <http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=codes&ia=jargon> Cite
This Source -
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/codes#sharethis#sharethis> Share
This 

codes

n. [scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in people who hack
supercomputers and heavy-duty
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/number-crunching> number-crunching,
rare to unknown elsewhere (if you say "codes" to hackers outside scientific
computing, their first association is likely to be "and cyphers").


Jargon File 4.2.0

 

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Citation:

 

codes. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Houghton
Mifflin Company.  <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/codes>
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/codes (accessed: March 31, 2008).

 

 

 

It does not answer your question as to when or how it got started, but
apparently it has been with us a while.  

 

 

-geoff

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org [mailto:beowulf-bounces at beowulf.org] On
Behalf Of Jon Forrest
Sent: Montag, 31. März 2008 22:37
To: beowulf at beowulf.org
Subject: [Beowulf] "Code" vs. "Codes"

 

Sometime long ago I first heard the term "codes"

used in the same way I would use the term

"programs". For example, someone might have

said "The codes from Berkeley were very tricky".

 

The first time I heard this, I thought maybe

this term came from someone who wasn't a native

speaker of English, who was trying to pluralize

the term "code". This often happens with

words like "information" and "documentation".

 

But, now I regularly hear native speakers

of English using "codes" to mean "programs",

especially in the scientific realm, such as

what many of us deal with regularly.

 

Does anybody know how this usage first came about?

 

Cordially,

-- 

Jon Forrest

Research Computing Support

College of Chemistry

173 Tan Hall

University of California Berkeley

Berkeley, CA

94720-1460

510-643-1032

jlforrest at berkeley.edu

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