Code

In communications and information processing, code is a system of

rules to convert informationsuch as a letter, word, sound, image, or
gestureinto another form or representation, sometimes shortened or
secret, for communication through a channel or storage in a medium.
An early example is the invention of language which enabled a person,
through speech, to communicate what he or she saw, heard, felt, or
thought to others. But speech limits the range of communication to the
distance a voice can carry, and limits the audience to those present
when the speech is uttered. The invention of writing, which converted
spoken language into visual symbols, extended the range of
communication acrossspace and time.

The process of encoding converts information from a source into

symbols for communication or storage. Decoding is the reverse
process, converting code symbols back into a form that the recipient
understands.

One reason for coding is to enable communication in places where

ordinary plain language, spoken or written, is difficult or impossible.
For example, semaphore, where the configuration of flags held by a Morse code, a famous type of code
signaller or the arms of a semaphore tower encodes parts of the
message, typically individual letters and numbers. Another person
standing a great distance away can interpret the flags and reproduce the words sent.

Contents
1 Theory
1.1 Variable-length codes
1.2 Error-correcting codes
2 Examples
2.1 Codes in communication used for brevity
2.2 Character encodings
2.3 Genetic code
2.4 Gdel code
2.5 Other
2.6 Cryptography
3 Other examples
4 Codes and acronyms
5 See also
6 References

Theory
In information theory and computer science, a code is usually considered as an algorithm which uniquely represents symbols from
some source alphabet, by encoded strings, which may be in some other target alphabet. An extension of the code for representing
sequences of symbols over the source alphabet is obtained by concatenating the encoded strings.

Before giving a mathematically precise definition, this is a brief example. The mapping

is a code, whose source alphabet is the set and whose target alphabet is the set . Using the extension of the code, the
encoded string 0011001011 can be grouped into codewords as 0 011 0 01 011, and these in turn can be decoded to the sequence of
source symbols acabc.

Using terms from formal language theory, the precise mathematical definition of this concept is as follows: let S and T be two finite
sets, called the source and target alphabets, respectively. A code is a total function mapping each symbol from S to a
sequence of symbols over T, and the extension of to a homomorphism of into , which naturally maps each sequence of
source symbols to a sequence of target symbols, is referred to as its extension.

Variable-length codes
In this section, we consider codes which encode each source (clear text) character by a code word from some dictionary, and
concatenation of such code words give us an encoded string. Variable-length codes are especially useful when clear text characters
have different probabilities; see alsoentropy encoding.

A prefix code is a code with the "prefix property": there is no valid code word in the system that is a prefix (start) of any other valid
code word in the set. Huffman coding is the most known algorithm for deriving prefix codes. Prefix codes are widely referred to as
"Huffman codes" even when the code was not produced by a Huffman algorithm. Other examples of prefix codes are country calling
codes, the country and publisher parts of ISBNs, and the Secondary Synchronization Codes used in the UMTS W-CDMA 3G
Wireless Standard.

Kraft's inequality characterizes the sets of codeword lengths that are possible in a prefix code. Virtually any uniquely decodable one-
to-many code, not necessary a prefix one, must satisfy Kraft's inequality
.

Error-correcting codes
Codes may also be used to represent data in a way more resistant to errors in transmission or storage. Such a "code" is called error-
an
correcting code, and works by including carefully crafted redundancy with the stored (or transmitted) data. Examples include
Hamming codes, ReedSolomon, ReedMuller, WalshHadamard, BoseChaudhuriHochquenghem, Turbo, Golay, Goppa, low-
density parity-check codes, and spacetime codes. Error detecting codes can be optimised to detectburst errors, or random errors.

Examples

Codes in communication used for brevity

A cable code replaces words (e.g., ship or invoice) with shorter words, allowing the same information to be sent with fewer
characters, more quickly, and most importantly, less expensively.

Codes can be used for brevity. When telegraph messages were the state of the art in rapid long distance communication, elaborate
systems of commercial codes that encoded complete phrases into single mouths (commonly five-minute groups) were developed, so
that telegraphers became conversant with such "words" as BYOXO ("Are you trying to weasel out of our deal?"), LIOUY ("Why do
you not answer my question?"), BMULD ("You're a skunk!"), or AYYLU ("Not clearly coded, repeat more clearly."). Code words
were chosen for various reasons: length, pronounceability, etc. Meanings were chosen to fit perceived needs: commercial
negotiations, military terms for military codes, diplomatic terms for diplomatic codes, any and all of the preceding for espionage
codes. Codebooks and codebook publishers proliferated, including one run as a front for the American Black Chamber run by
Herbert Yardley between the First and Second World Wars. The purpose of most of these codes was to save on cable costs. The use of
data coding for data compression predates the computer era; an early example is the telegraph Morse code where more-frequently
used characters have shorter representations. Techniques such as Huffman coding are now used by computer-based algorithms to
compress large data files into a more compact form for storage or transmission.

Character encodings
Probably the most widely known data communications code so far (a.k.a. character representation) in use today is ASCII. In one or
another (somewhat compatible) version, it is used by nearly all personal computers, terminals, printers, and other communication
equipment. It represents 128 characters with seven-bit binary numbersthat is, as a string of seven 1s and 0s (bits). In ASCII, a
lowercase "a" is always 1100001, an uppercase "A" always 1000001, and so on. There are many other encodings which represent
each character by a byte (usually referred as code pages), integer code point (Unicode) or a byte sequence (UTF-8).

Genetic code
Biological organisms contain genetic material that is used to control their function and development. This is DNA which contains
units named genes from which messenger RNA is derived. This in turn produces proteins through a code (genetic code) in which a
series of triplets (codons) of four possible nucleotides can be translated into one of twenty possible amino acids. A sequence of
codons results in a corresponding sequence of amino acids that form a protein molecule; a type of codon called a stop codon signals
the end of the sequence.

Gdel code
In mathematics, a Gdel code was the basis for the proof ofGdel's incompleteness theorem. Here, the idea was to mapmathematical
notation to a natural number (using a Gdel numbering).

Other
There are codes using colors, like traffic lights, the color code employed to mark the nominal value of the electrical resistors or that
of the trashcans devoted to specific types of garbage (paper
, glass, biological, etc.)

In marketing, coupon codes can be used for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product from an internet retailer
.

In military environments, specific sounds with the cornet are used for different uses: to mark some moments of the day, to command
the infantry in the battlefield, etc.

Communication systems for sensory impairments, such as sign language for deaf people and braille for blind people, are based on
movement or tactile codes.

Musical scores are the most common way to encodemusic.

Specific games, as chess, have their own code systems to record the matches calledchess notation.

Cryptography
In the history of cryptography, codes were once common for ensuring the confidentiality of communications, although ciphers are
now used instead. Seecode (cryptography).
Secret codes intended to obscure the real messages, ranging from serious (mainly espionage in military, diplomatic, business, etc.) to
trivial (romance, games) can be any kind of imaginative encoding: flowers, game cards, clothes, fans, hats, melodies, birds, etc., in
which the sole requisite is the previous agreement of the meaning by both the sender and the receiver
.

Other examples
Other examples of encoding include:

Encoding (in cognition) is a basic perceptual process of interpreting incoming stimuli; technically speaking, it is a
complex, multi-stage process of converting relatively objective sensory input (e.g., light, sound) into subjectively
meaningful experience.
A content format is a specific encoding format for converting a specific type ofdata to information.
Text encoding uses a markup language to tag the structure and other features of a text to facilitate processing by
computers. (See also Text Encoding Initiative.)
Semantics encoding of formal language A in formal language B is a method of representing all terms (e.g. programs
or descriptions) of language A using language B.
Electronic encoding transforms a signal into a code optimized fortransmission or storage, generally done with a
codec.
Neural encoding is the way in which information is represented inneurons.
Memory encoding is the process of converting sensations into memories.
Television encoding: NTSC, PAL and SECAM
Other examples of decoding include:

Decoding (computer science)

Decoding methods, methods in communication theory for decoding code words sent over a noisy channel
Digital signal processing, the study of signals in a digital representation and the processing methods of these signals
Digital-to-analog converter, the use of analog circuit for decoding operations
Word decoding, the use of phonics to decipher print patterns and translate them into the sounds of language

Codes and acronyms

Acronyms and abbreviations can be considered codes, and in a sense alllanguages and writing systems are codes for human thought.

International Air Transport Association airport codes are three-letter codes used to designate airports and used for bag tags. Station
codes are similarly used on railways, but are usually national, so the same code can be used for different stations if they are in
different countries.

Occasionally a code word achieves an independent existence (and meaning) while the original equivalent phrase is forgotten or at
least no longer has the precise meaning attributed to the code word. For example, '30' was widely used in journalism to mean "end of
story", and has been used inother contexts to signify "the end".[1] [2]

See also
Asemic writing
Cipher
Code (semiotics)
Equipment codes
Quantum error correction
Semiotics

References
1. Kogan, Hadass "So Why Not 29" (http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4408)American Journalism Review. Retrieved
2012-07-03.
 2. "WESTERN UNION "92 CODE" & WOOD'S "TELEGRAPHIC NUMERALS " " (http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/te
le/wurules1866/92code.html). Signal Corps Association. 1996. Retrieved 2012-07-03.

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