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code

A code can be a set of principles. Our laws make up our legal code, and many people govern themselves through a personal "code of honor." Code can also mean a system for sending secret messages, or programming language for computers.

In 1303, you could only use code to mean a set of laws, such as a code of conduct. It wasn’t until 1808 that you could use code to describe a system for sending secret messages. The verb form appeared in 1815, meaning to create laws or send secret messages, and gave birth to encode. In the computer programming context, encode was shortened back again to code, meaning to write instructions for a computer program. Soon the lines of text themselves began to be referred to as simply code.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: code

1	n	a set of rules or principles or laws (especially written ones)
2	n v	a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy convert ordinary language into code
3	n	(computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: code

n a set of rules or principles or laws (especially written ones)

Synonyms:: codification

Types:: show 13 types...; hide 13 types...; Bushido
traditional code of the Japanese samurai which stressed courage and loyalty and self-discipline and simple living; legal code
a code of laws adopted by a state or nation; building code
set of standards established and enforced by local government for the structural safety of buildings; dress code
a set of rules specifying the correct manner of dress while on the premises of the institution (or specifying what manner of dress is prohibited); fire code
set of standards established and enforced by government for fire prevention and safety in case of fire as in fire escapes etc; omerta
a code of silence practiced by the Mafia; a refusal to give evidence to the police about criminal activities; health code, sanitary code
set of standards established and enforced by government for health requirements as in plumbing etc; Highway Code
the code of rules governing the use of public roads; Justinian code, Roman law, civil law, jus civile
the legal code of ancient Rome; codified under Justinian; the basis for many modern systems of civil law; Salic law
the code of laws of the Salian Franks and other German tribes; criminal law
the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment; penal code
the legal code governing crimes and their punishment; U. S. Code, United States Code
a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States; is prepared and published by a unit of the United States House of Representatives

Type of:: black and white, written communication, written language
communication by means of written symbols (either printed or handwritten)

n a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy

Types:: show 8 types...; hide 8 types...; access, access code
a code (a series of characters or digits) that must be entered in some way (typed or dialed or spoken) to get the use of something (a telephone line or a computer or a local area network etc.); area code
a number usually of 3 digits assigned to a telephone area as in the United States and Canada; Universal Product Code, bar code
code consisting of a series of vertical bars of variable width that are scanned by a laser; printed on consumer product packages to identify the item for a computer that provides the price and registers inventory information; color code
system using colors to designate classifications; cipher, cryptograph, cypher, secret code
a secret method of writing; Morse, Morse code, international Morse code
a telegraph code in which letters and numbers are represented by strings of dots and dashes (short and long signals); ZIP, ZIP code, postal code, postcode
a code of letters and digits added to a postal address to aid in the sorting of mail; back door, backdoor
an undocumented way to get access to a computer system or the data it contains

Type of:: coding system
a system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages

v convert ordinary language into code

Synonyms:: cipher, cypher, encipher, encrypt, inscribe, write in code

Type of:: encode
convert information into code

v attach a code to

“Code the pieces with numbers so that you can identify them later”

Type of:: label, mark, tag
attach a tag or label to

n (computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions

Synonyms:: computer code

Examples:: show 12 examples...; hide 12 examples...; Microsoft disk operating system
an operating system developed by Bill Gates for personal computers; Linux
an open-source version of the UNIX operating system; MapQuest
a free, widely-used Web Map Server; Google
a widely used search engine that uses text-matching techniques to find web pages that are important and relevant to a user's search; Yahoo
a widely used search engine for the web that finds information, news, images, products, finance; Ask Jeeves
a widely used search engine accepting plain English questions or phrases or terms; Internet Explorer
a commercial browser; Konqueror
a freeware browser for Linux; lynx
a text browser; Mosaic
a freeware browser; Netscape
a commercial browser; Opera
a commercial browser

Types:: show 37 types...; hide 37 types...; address, computer address, reference
(computer science) the code that identifies where a piece of information is stored; ASCII, American Standard Code for Information Interchange
(computer science) a code for information exchange between computers made by different companies; a string of 7 binary digits represents each character; used in most microcomputers; binary code
code using a string of 8 binary digits to represent characters; ECC, error correction code
(telecommunication) a coding system that incorporates extra parity bits in order to detect errors; firmware, microcode
(computer science) coded instructions that are stored permanently in read-only memory; machine code, machine language
a set of instructions coded so that the computer can use it directly without further translation; object code
the machine-language output of a compiler that is ready for execution on a particular computer; operation code, order code
the portion of a set of operation descriptions that specifies the operation to be performed; the set of operations in a computer; computer software, package, software, software package, software program, software system
(computer science) written programs or procedures or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory; command, instruction, program line, statement
(computer science) a line of code written as part of a computer program; argument, parameter
(computer science) a reference or value that is passed to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program; cyclic redundancy check
an error correction code that is recorded in each sector of a magnetic disk and used to catch errors in the data; URL, uniform resource locator, universal resource locator
the address of a web page on the world wide web; alpha software
a first release of a software product that is usually tested only by the developers; authoring language
software that can be used to develop interactive computer programs without the technically demanding task of computer programming; beta software
software that has not yet been released but has received an alpha test and still has more bugs than a regular release; compatible software
software that can run on different computers without modification; compatible software
application software programs that share common conventions so they can be utilized together; CAD, computer-aided design
software used in art and architecture and engineering and manufacturing to assist in precision drawing; freeware
software that is provided without charge; groupware
software that can be used by a group of people who are working on the same information but may be distributed in space; OS, operating system
(computer science) software that controls the execution of computer programs and may provide various services; computer program, computer programme, program, programme
(computer science) a sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute; function, procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine
a set sequence of steps, part of larger computer program; call
an instruction that interrupts the program being executed; command line
commands that a user types in order to run an application; link
(computing) an instruction that connects one part of a program or an element on a list to another program or list; macro, macro instruction
a single computer instruction that results in a series of instructions in machine language; system error
an instruction that is either not recognized by an operating system or is in violation of the procedural rules; toggle
any instruction that works first one way and then the other; it turns something on the first time it is used and then turns it off the next time; shareware
software that is available free of charge; may be distributed for evaluation with a fee requested for additional features or a manual etc.; shrink-wrapped software
software on CD-ROMs that are boxed and shrink-wrapped and sold in stores (implying a widely supported standard platform); spyware
computer software that obtains information from a user's computer without the user's knowledge or consent; supervisory software
specialized programs that reside permanently in the computer's main memory and control the processing of user's programs; documentation, software documentation
program listings or technical manuals describing the operation and use of programs; DBMS, database management system
a software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database; upgrade
software that provides better performance than an earlier version did

Type of:: coding system
a system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages

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