Best Friends 3
Although Morse code has absolutely nothing to do with computers,
becoming familiar with the nature of codes is an essential preliminary to
achieving a deep understanding of the hidden languages and inner struc-
tures of computer hardware and software.
In this book, the word code usually means a system for transferring
information among people, between people and computers, or within com-
puters themselves.
A code lets you communicate. Sometimes codes are secret, but most
codes are not. Indeed, most codes must be well understood because they’re
the basis of human communication.
The sounds we make with our mouths to form words constitute a code
that is intelligible to anyone who can hear our voices and understands the
language that we speak. We call this code “the spoken word” or “speech.”
Within deaf communities, various sign languages employ the hands
and arms to form movements and gestures that convey individual letters
of words or whole words and concepts. The two systems most common in
North America are American Sign Language (ASL), which was developed
in the early 19th century at the American School for the Deaf, and Langue
des signes Québécoise (LSQ), which is a variation of French sign language.
We use another code for words on paper or other media, called “the writ-
ten word” or “text.” Text can be written or keyed by hand and then printed
in newspapers, magazines, and books or displayed digitally on a range of
devices. In many languages, a strong correspondence exists between speech
and text. In English, for example, letters and groups of letters correspond
(more or less) to spoken sounds.
For people who are visually impaired, the written word can be replaced
with Braille, which uses a system of raised dots that correspond to let-
ters, groups of letters, and whole words. (I discuss Braille in more detail in
Chapter 3.)
When spoken words must be transcribed into text very quickly, stenog-
raphy or shorthand is useful. In courts of law or for generating real-time
closed captioning for televised news or sports programs, stenographers
use a stenotype machine with a simplified keyboard incorporating its own
codes corresponding to text.
We use a variety of different codes for communicating among ourselves
because some codes are more convenient than others. The code of the spo-
ken word can’t be stored on paper, so the code of the written word is used
instead. Silently exchanging information across a distance in the dark isn’t
possible with speech or paper. Hence, Morse code is a convenient alterna-
tive. A code is useful if it serves a purpose that no other code can.
As we shall see, various types of codes are also used in computers to store
and communicate text, numbers, sounds, music, pictures, and movies, as
well as instructions within the computer itself. Computers can’t easily deal
with human codes because computers can’t precisely duplicate the ways in
which human beings use their eyes, ears, mouths, and fingers. Teaching
