Algorithms

The last two weeks have been a fascinating journey of discovering what binary code is and why we use it instead of the base 10 system. The simple 'Yes/No', '1/0', 'On/Off', 'Magnetic/Nonmagnetic' and shiny versus black surface allows decisions to be made with the logic of either something happens or it doesn't. We have probably all watched Imitation Game and marveled at the breaking of the Enigma code. Turin queried the intelligence of the computer over the human brain and most programmers know that the code is as good as your testing procedure. In other words, either it works or it doesn't!

It is a myth that programmers live in their own world; on the contrary, they are some of the most perceptive problem solvers who are pedantic enough to document and review their work line by line. The etiquette of coding recommends that not only is it imperative to document but also essential to make comments as you go so that every step is clear and you can back track on yourself to unpick errors easily. So how do we communicate with programmers? Well the easiest answer is that we learn to use the language that they use.