Computer Codes

The work of the British code breakers during World War II has had a great influence on the world today, leading directly to the development of modern computers. Although today's computers are much smaller and much more powerful than machines like Colossus, codes are still an important part of the way they work.

As more and more business and communication takes place using the Internet, people need to send each other important email messages that they don't want other people to read. We also use our credit cards to buy things on the Internet. Criminals called hackers spend a lot of time trying to intercept important emails or steal people's credit card details. Computer programmers therefore use codes to make it harder for hackers to do this. When you send an email or buy something from a website, your message or details are encoded - or encrypted - to prevent other people seeing them. In the age of the computer, codes are more important to our everyday life than ever before!