On the Nature and Purpose of Code

By Tom Moertel Posted on July 23, 2026 Tags: code, good code, nature of code, purpose of code, source code, definitions, theory, philosophy Recently, I came across some programming advice that I disagreed with. When I thought about why I disagreed with it, I realized that the argument forming in my head followed from my foundational beliefs about code. So I thought it would be a useful exercise to set those thoughts down as clearly as I could. This post is my vehicle for the first part of that exercise. Please let me know if you think I got anything wrong. Ready? Let’s go! What is code? Code (or source code) is a formal, typically textual document written in a programming language and having two parts: the first part is logic, which instructs a computing device what to do in the language’s syntax and according to the language’s semantics; and the second part is commentary, which communicates important information directly to the code’s audience; the combined purpose of these being to…