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code Last modified: Tuesday, March 04, 2003

(n) (1) A set of symbols for representing something. For example, most computers use ASCII codes to represent characters. (2) Written computer instructions. The term code is somewhat colloquial. For example, a programmer might say: "I wrote a lot of code this morning" or "There's one piece of code that doesn't work." Code can appear in a variety of forms. The code that a programmer writes is called source code. After it has been compiled, it is called object code. Code that is ready to run is called executable code or machine code. (v) Colloquial for to program (that is, to write source code).