<html>
<body>
At 01:36 PM 3/31/2008, Jon Forrest wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Sometime long ago I first heard
the term "codes"<br>
used in the same way I would use the term<br>
"programs". For example, someone might have<br>
said "The codes from Berkeley were very tricky".<br><br>
The first time I heard this, I thought maybe<br>
this term came from someone who wasn't a native<br>
speaker of English, who was trying to pluralize<br>
the term "code". This often happens with<br>
words like "information" and
"documentation".<br><br>
But, now I regularly hear native speakers<br>
of English using "codes" to mean "programs",<br>
especially in the scientific realm, such as<br>
what many of us deal with regularly.<br><br>
Does anybody know how this usage first came about?</blockquote><br><br>
<br>
It's quite old (in computer age), I think. One sees references to
various hydrodynamic codes (meaning things like numerical computation of
Navier-Stokes, etc.) in reports from Los Alamos in the 1950s.
Probably comes from the fact that "coders" did
"coding" to implement various models and algorithms, and what
would the process of coding produce but a code.<br><br>
Jim<br><br>
Some references:<br>
at
<a href="http://history.siam.org/articles.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://history.siam.org/articles.htm</a><br>
one can find links to, e.g.<br>
<a href="http://history.siam.org/pdf/cwgear.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://history.siam.org/pdf/cwgear.pdf<br><br>
</a>mentions that early implementations of RungeKutta methods were, for
example, "implemented by Wheeler as code #27 for the ILLIAC
I" ILLIAC 1 became operational in 1952. (page 10 of the pdf)
.. however, I'm not sure if they referred to them as codes then, or if
that usage is from the author of the article. One might want to get
references 33,34, and 35 from that article (from 1950,51, 54,
respectively)<br><br>
There's also the transcript of an oral history by Cody, where he talks
about the "Argonne Code Center", and the interviewer (Haigh)
asks Cody:<br>
Cody: ... The Argonne Code Center was a repository for nuclear codes,
codes that had been written to perform nuclear computations, design of
reactors, whatever.<br><br>
Haigh: And code in this context basically means program?<br>
Cody: Program, the complete program.<br><br>
<a href="http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0842402" eudora="autourl">
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0842402</a>
<br><br>
<br>
<b>Accession Number : </b>AD0842402<br>
<b>Title : </b>Comparison Between a Von Neumann-Richtmyer
Hydrocode (AFWL's PUFF) and a Lax-Wendroff Hydrocode.<br>
<b>Descriptive Note : </b>Technical rept. Aug 67-Aug 68,<br>
<b>Corporate Author : </b>AIR FORCE WEAPONS LAB KIRTLAND AFB NM<br>
<b>Personal Author(s) : </b>Hicks, Darrell ; Pelzl, Robert<br>
<b>Report Date : </b>OCT 1968<br>
There are 7 TR's in DTIC with dates before 1970 and the word hydrocode
appearing somewhere.<br>
The earliest one is from March 1967<br><br>
<font size=2><b>Accession Number:</b> AD0817429 <br><br>
<b>Full Text (pdf) Availability: <br>
</b> <b>Size:</b> 28 MB
<br>
<b>Handle / proxy Url:</b>
<a href="http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD817429">
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD817429</a> <br><br>
<b>Citation Status:</b> <br>
ACTIVE <br>
<b>Title:</b> THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF DISTANT
PLAIN EVENT 6 <br><br>
Abstract:<b>Abstract:</b> <br>
Theoretical calculations of the phenomenology of an atmospheric high-
explosive detonation are presented. The charge was a 100-ton sphere
(radius, 240.5cm) of TNT loading density, 1.56 gms/cc whose center was at
an altitude of 646.405 meters. The ground, upon which the spherical
charge rested, was 644 meters above sea level. The numerical calculations
taken out to 6 seconds were performed on the CDC 6600 digital computer
using SHELL2, a two-material (version of the SHELL-OIL code),
two-dimensional pure Eulerian hydrodynamic code. Air and the detonation
products of TNT were the two materials considered in the calculation. The
analytic, self-similar solution for the detonation wave in TNT provided
the initial conditions. Included are pressure and density contours,
velocity vector plots, and wave forms for 19 test stations. This
calculation is a representation of the air blast of Event 6 of the
DISTANT PLAIN test series to be fired in Canada, July 1967.
</font></body>
<br>
</html>