Have you ever heard of The Man in the Taupe Blazer, also known as TMitTB? If not, then you have most likely missed the great essay What is Code? by Paul Ford, which is one of the most illustrative yet substantial introductions to the broad fields of software and software development.
Ford’s essay was published as The Code Issue in Bloomberg Businessweek on June 15, 2015. Actually, it was a 122-page double issue that included only this essay. More importantly, it exists as an interactive multimedia website that is absolutely worth a visit.
Better Understand Software Development
Why did I find What is Code? so relevant that I wrote a blog article about it for The Making of Software? Why do I recommend it to you? The reason is that despite the importance of software and software development, too many people still feel that they don’t understand them well enough. This also applies to professionals who commission software or depend on it for their jobs. Therefore, …
- For non-software professionals, What is Code? is an excellent introduction, especially if you interact with software people in your job and want to better understand their sometimes seemingly odd behavior and arguments.
- For software professionals, the essay can be a useful reference and tool to help others better understand the requirements of software development.
Besides everything else, The Code Issue is an excellent example of how journalistic text and interactive software elements can be intertwined. It is a pleasure to read, and its interactive elements and exercises are enjoyable to try out.
Something Interesting to Look Up and Read
So, why not look it up? The following links will direct you to the essay website and its accompanying materials.
The What Is Code? website’s URL is http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/. It’s hosted by Bloomberg and has a modest paywall that leads to an online subscription offer. Initial visits and later occasional ones have used to be free without paywall.
The entire code for the interactive website, including the essay text and all code examples, is available from a public GitHub repository (note the license information): https://github.com/BloombergGraphics/whatiscode
Paul Ford has written a Shutterstock Blog Article on September 16, 2015, in their series „Best Thing I Ever Created“. It tells the story behind the What Is Code? essay: https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/the-best-thing-i-ever-created-paul-ford-on-bloomberg-businessweeks-inimitable-what-is-code-issue
The original Code Issue magazine edition is not available any more in Bloomberg Businessweek’s catalog of back issues. However, the press release that announced it is still online at the time of this writing: https://www.bloomberg.com/company/press/bloomberg-businessweek-releases-code-issue-special-multi-platform-package-demystifying-code/
Finally, you may want to learn more about Paul Ford from his homepage and blog, his LinkedIn profile, and from the Wikipedia article about him.
When you now start reading the Code Issue, please give my warmest regards to the Man in the Taupe Blazer. He always does a great job and we know how awesome he is!
Image sources: The feature image and cover page are from the Bloomberg Businessweek webpages http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/ (screenshot) and https://www.bloomberg.com/company/press/bloomberg-businessweek-releases-code-issue-special-multi-platform-package-demystifying-code/.
