Computing Meaning of Code

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course introduces the key concepts for understanding everything we call “code” -- from language and written symbols to programming languages, digital data, and AI. To open up the meaning of code and computing, students will learn how to apply interdisciplinary knowledge and methods from computer science, philosophy, mathematics, semiotics and linguistics, and design and systems thinking. We will use these “deblackboxing” methods to uncover the important truth about computing: all computing technologies are based on -- and are designed to serve -- our core human capabilities for symbolic thought and communication, thinking with symbols and representations (which includes numbers and logic), and for abstraction, pattern recognition, and modeling technical systems that serve these human capabilities. This course is designed especially for students from non-technical backgrounds, but if you have done some computer coding already, you will understand more clearly how and why programming languages and digital media are designed the way they are, and the reasons behind their foundational principles. Students will learn how and why we can use “code” in one form (in the symbols of the “digital language” of computers) for representing, processing, interpreting, and transmitting all forms of the “primary code” of human thought and expression (in words, images, numbers, graphics, sounds, and video). Course units will include programming tutorials and hands-on exercises so that students can understand how the main concepts are applied in the design of programming languages, software applications, and in interfaces and interactions. Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will have acquired both a deeper conceptual knowledge of the meaning of code in computing technologies, and opened up a pathway for acquiring new skills and competencies. The interdisciplinary knowledge provided by this course will prepare students to advance in further studies of computer systems, digital media, and their cultural and social significance, and, for students wanting to develop skills in coding and digital media applications, students will be well-prepared to progress quickly in learning new coding skills because they already understand the design principles for code in any programming language, and what code is, means, and does by design. Students will also have achieved the competency to be good explainers and communicators of the key concepts in computer systems, programming applications, and data design, a competency in high demand for working in organizations in any field or sector, which always includes both technical and non-technical communities of practice.