Where does code collide?

In information and coding theory a code is a rule that maps messages onto codewords so they can be stored or sent reliably, chosen so that common messages take fewer symbols or so that noise can be detected and corrected. Shannon's A Mathematical Theory of Communication founded the field, showing that a source can be compressed toward its entropy and that a channel has a capacity below which nearly errorless coding is possible. Hamming's Error Detecting and Error Correcting Codes then built concrete codes that add redundancy so a corrupted codeword can be restored. The referent is a mathematical mapping between symbol sets designed for reliable communication, and it is unrelated to a body of statutes, a codon table, or a class dialect beyond the shared word.[1][2]

Unit

A mapping from messages to codewords over defined symbol sets

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Analysed by code rate, word length, minimum distance, and error probability against a channel model

The genetic code is the set of rules by which sequences of three nucleotide bases, called codons, are read to specify the amino acids that a cell strings together into a protein. Crick, Barnett, Brenner, and Watts-Tobin's General Nature of the Genetic Code for Proteins gave the evidence that the code is read in non-overlapping triplets from a fixed starting point. Nirenberg and Matthaei's work on cell free protein synthesis then began to assign particular codons to particular amino acids, filling in the table. The referent is a chemical decoding rule inside living cells, a mapping from genotype to protein, and it is a different construct from a body of law, an engineered communication code, or a way of speaking that happens to share the word.[3][4]

Unit

A near universal mapping from nucleotide triplets to amino acids

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Established by genetics and biochemistry, assigning codons to amino acids and confirming the reading frame

In sociolinguistics a code is a variety or style of speaking that a social group draws on, differing in how far meaning is made explicit in words rather than left to shared context. Bernstein's Elaborated and Restricted Codes: Their Social Origins and Some Consequences distinguished an elaborated code, which spells meaning out for a listener who shares little context, from a restricted code, which leans on assumed common ground, and linked their use to social class and to how children are socialised. His earlier Language and Social Class set out the observations behind the distinction. The referent is a patterned way of using language tied to a social position, and it is not an enacted body of statutes, an engineered communication code, or the codon table of genetics.[5][6]

Unit

A patterned, socially linked variety of language use

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Studied through speech samples and social background, comparing how explicitly meaning is put into words