What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when we say ‘coding’? Well, most of us are under the impression that coding is a set of complex sentences that the computer understands, thereby giving us the final input, which could be; an app, a computer application, or a robot. In the past few decades, coding is picking up pace and so much so it has become a part of our school’s regular curriculum, especially in Institutes across Dubai and other developed Middle East regions. Love to code, or have to code by compulsion, whatever the reason is, here are some cool facts that every enthusiastic coder needs to know.

#1 Coding Has Over 700 Languages

Did you know there are about 7100 languages in the world! And if you feel coding is only about Python and Java, think again! Coding has over 700 languages in use today. Woh! The most common ones are very widely used and talked about, but there are languages such as; GO, Kotlin, R, and Swift, which exist, but lesser known & used.

#2 Where did the name Coding Bugs come about?

A ‘bug’ is commonly referred to as an error that causes the computer program to crash or function in a funny manner! Bugs can affect the performance of the codes that were curated and in-turn create havoc in the software. On an average it is normal to have around 15 and 50 bugs per 1000 lines of delivered code. But hey are these bugs actual insects? Where did it get its name from? In 1946, Grace Hoper joined the Harvard Faculty where she worked on Mark II and Mark III systems. One day she traced an error in Mark II due to a ‘moth’ trapped in relay and carefully took it off and stuck it into her log book. Since that day, the term bugs got associated with an error. Very interesting indeed!

#3 The Birth of Java Language

Another amazing fact, Java language was initially termed as ‘Oak’! This is because, James Gosling named it after an ‘oak tree’ that stood outside his office, when he programmed the language in 1989 for Sun Microsystems. Later it was renamed as Java, based on the Java coffee machine in Indonesia. Developers use Java to construct apps in the laptop, gaming consoles, and pack phones with the latest software to make them more efficient. Apps such as Code Monkey, are excellent platforms that support the child’s coding journey and make it interesting. Today, children of age 4 and above are performing wonders, with the CodeMonkey platform.

#4 Computer Virus called Creeper

The Covid-19 virus had us all in a panic and we have seen how it took-over our lives. Similarly, a computer virus spreads by inserting its own faulty code and then spreading from one network to another. If you want to learn more about computer viruses, pick up this book by John von Neumann in 1949 – ‘Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata’. The world’s first replicating computer virus was produced in 1971, but it didn’t have any malicious intentions, though a message popped-up which read as follows; “I’M THE CREEPER; CATCH ME IF YOU CAN”.

#5 Coding played a Role in World War II

Here’s one example where coding was used for the wrong reasons! Early during World War II, the Nazi troops sent secret encoded communications that had devastating effects. Britain collected a team of mathematicians and engineers to develop machines that would crack German codes. It was called; Colossus, an electronic code-breaking computer that remained classified until the 1970s. The person responsible for this was an English computer scientist, Alan Turing, who deciphered Nazis’ code machine ENIGMA with cryptologic and mathematical skills.

#6 World’s First Computer Programmer was Female

Ada Lovelace was born in London in December 10, 1815 and is the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. She was an extremely talented mathematician and worked with Charles Babbage to design the earliest mechanical computer. From there on the coding journey started, by writing the first algorithm.

Contact us