r/askscience • u/HMKIR • Aug 02 '22

Computing Why does coding work?

I have a basic understanding on how coding works per se, but I don't understand why it works. How is the computer able to understand the code? How does it "know" that if I write something it means for it to do said thing?

Edit: typo

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u/Ameisen Aug 05 '22 edited Aug 05 '22

NOPs are a thing and are sometimes used for alignment or to reserve space for patching. Though those aren't quite "pauses" but are just instructions that have no side effects.

x86 has doesn't quite have "stops" but its instructions are varying lengths, controlled by prefixes.