2023-05-26

Program Code is Uncountable

There are some words in English that are uncountable. For example: "fish", "sheep", "bread", etc. When we want to speak of many of those things, we do not say "fishes", "sheeps", or "breads"; we still use the singular form: "I caught lots of fish", "Please count the sheep", "Do not eat too much bread", etc.

Another such word is "code", in the context of programming. 

When referring to program code, the word "code" is uncountable. "I wrote the code for all those apps". "You have a lot of code to review". "We write new code every day".

There are certain meanings of the word "code" that do have a plural form; for example, "give me the access codes" or "see the list of HTTP status codes". But these meanings refer to numbers, or ciphers, in other words data, not program code. Program code is always uncountable.

Also note that in the case of fish and bread there exist some very rare usages where we may be speaking of many different types of fish or bread, and where plural may in fact be allowed; However, for program code, there are no such exceptions: Program code is always uncountable.

Reference: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries - English - Code (Scroll down to meaning 3, "programming")

Now, we live in free societies where everyone enjoys freedom of speech, and more generally, freedom of expression. You can choose to say whatever you like, just as you can choose to dress in whatever way you like.

But when you say "codes" referring to program code, please do keep in mind that you come across like this complete idiot:

Or like this complete idiot:


Do you want to come across like a complete idiot?

The choice is yours.

(Grumpy cat meme unnecessary; this was grumpy enough by itself.)

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