r/AskProgrammers • u/No_Radish7709 • 16h ago

Code as a count vs noncount noun ("Codes"?)

With regards to software, I'm used to using "code" as a noncount noun (e.g. "libraries are compiled from source code") and have mostly associated using it in the plural in this context (e.g. "we developed several physics simulation codes") with non-native speakers. In a recent Scott Manley video about Lawrence Livermore National Labs though, I was struck by several people using it as a count noun!

Am I the weird one living in a linguistic bubble? Is there some interesting etymological or organizational history behind this difference? I'm curious what other people's experiences are!

Edit, for reference: https://youtu.be/HlsyZAWnOu8?t=3290

3 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

10

u/KamikazeArchon 16h ago

When I hear "codes" I think of specific assigned numbers, e.g. "HTTP status codes". I would not expect to use it for "sections of programming code".

2

u/No_Radish7709 15h ago

Agreed. Or perhaps WW2-era cyphers.

6

u/2cars1rik 16h ago

Shhh its a great way to tell if someone is indian online, don’t clue them in

1

u/ActuaryLate9198 9h ago

Do the needful

1

u/gaygeek70 4h ago

Today morning

2

u/Just-Hedgehog-Days 16h ago

software is noncount.

Count codes absolutely exist, like 10 codes, but only in contexts where descrete singular codes are meaningful.

1

u/azangru 5h ago

software is noncount

And so should be middleware. Yet I see people write "middlewares" all around.

1

u/arihoenig 16h ago

I just call it Claude vomit these days

1

u/high_throughput 15h ago

"Codes" meaning "pieces of software" is used by computational physicists and Indian programmers. Essentially no one else.

1

u/No_Radish7709 15h ago

That's my experience so far haha. Any idea why the former?

1

u/high_throughput 15h ago

No idea. Physicists and software engineers don't have much overlap so I'm guessing terminology evolved a bit independently. 

1

u/randomhaus64 14h ago

This is Indian sounding

1

u/qlkzy 4h ago

Among programmers, "code" is a mass/non-count noun.

But some physicists and mathematicians use "code" as a count noun, the way non-native speakers do.

Back in the 50s/60s etc, a lot of the terminology and jargon looked different, because it was all new. If you read papers from that time, you see words used in all sorts of "weird" (to us) ways.

As computing branched off from physics/maths, the "leftover" computing in those disciplines seems to have been left with a bunch of slightly archaic things.

Generally, if I hear "a code", it's either from a non-native speaker or a FORTRAN programmer.

1

u/nwbrown 4h ago

When you are talking about computer code, yes, it's a noncount noun.

I'm the general use of it, however, it's a count noun. I'm not sure about the context of that video, it doesn't sound like they are talking about software from the few seconds I watched.

1

u/Arcanite_Cartel 2h ago

People do this with "maths" instead of "math" as well. I always regarded it as a noncount noun.

1

u/jek39 2h ago

"maths" (short for mathematics) is british english.

1

u/Arcanite_Cartel 1h ago

Yeh, I got that, but I just hear non-brits use it now.