CODING 

WHAT IS IT?
              
              In its most basic and simplest definition, coding is telling a computer what you want it to do, through the typing of step-by-step commands for the computer to follow. For many people, mastering code is considered similar, if not the same, as learning a foreign language. There are multiple languages of code each created with its distinct purpose. For instance, C, a "low level" but fast programming language is best for anything that is graphically intensive, such as games. Others include Javascript, which was specifically designed for dealing with the Internet, and Perl, a multi-function language, often referred to as the "swiss army knife" of programming.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

               Code dominants our digital world. Every website, computer program, calculator, and even microwave relies on code to operate. This makes coding the foundation of the uprising digital age, and the coders are the builders. Even jobs not directly linked to the field of computer science, such as banking, medicine and journalism, will begin to require a need for basic understandings of coding and programming. As Linda Liukas, co-founder of the coding workshop Rail Girls, states "Our kids should learn how to bend, join, break, and combine code in a way it wasn't designed to. It's a whole generation of kids that will use code like our generation used words." Overall, coding will become the language of a very soon future. 

MUSE (MINING AND UNDERSTANDING SOFTWARE ENCLAVES)

              Although writing code is one way for humans to instruct computers, it may not be the ideal path. With computers still only accepting commands in their own language and programming languages growing progressively sophisticated, only a small percent of the population is able to communicate with computers. Fortunately, new technology will begin to turn coding into a completely useless form of instructions. One illustration of such idea has been developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), our nation's military science lab. DARPA has begun to launch a program called MUSE (Mining and Understanding Software Enclaves. The first step of MUSE is to collect all of the world's open-source software, containing billions of lines of codes, and arrange them into a giant database. This collection of codes will be able to perform almost any task and MUSE will tag all code, making it easy to find and assemble the necessary lines of code. The result, ideally, would be that one is able to program a computer without any knowledge or background in programming languages. However, this new population of programmers will require good higher-level design thinking in order to clearly explain the computer's task. MUSE still needs a few years before springing to life, but it sets forth the development of non-coding programming.