Food Recipes are Analogus to Computer Code

Comparing computer programs with food recipes are the best analogy we have for describing computer programs. We can use this comparison to convey the importance of demanding access to the computer code of a program, demanding the right to share computer code, and demanding the right to publish personal changes to someone else's computer code.

Recipes exist to instruct a cook how to create a particular food for people to eat. A cook might modify a recipe in some way in order to better suit the food consumer's needs. Examples of reasons why a cook might do that would be for a diabetic that must control their sugar intake, for a vegan that will not consume animal products, or maybe just to make the food a little bit tastier than the original. The people that eat the food don't need to understand anything about cooking to benefit from having access to the recipes used to create the food; they just need to give a copy of the recipe to their cooks and the cooks will do the hard work of interpreting and changing the recipe. People can help their neighbours (who may or may not be cooks) by sharing the recipes used to create the food they eat; in fact, when a community of people share recipes, the whole of society can benefit from better a better culinary experience thanks to the community of cooks using their shared knowledge to create tasty meals.

Computer programs exist to instruct a computer to how process some information for the user's benefit. A programmer might modify a program in some way in order to better suit the user's needs. Examples of reasons why a programmer might do that would be for an identified security exploit which may allow a computer cracker to comprimise the network system's integrity, for a user has changed their requirements of the program and so needs to be updated, or maybe just to improve program efficiency by removing unneeded programming processes and refactoring other processes. The users of a computer program don't need to understand anything about computer programming to benefit from having access to the associated code to a computer program; they just need to give a copy of the code to their programmers and the programmers wil do the hard work of interpreting and changing the program to fit the user's requirements. Users can help their neighbours (who may or may not be programmers) by sharing the code to a computer program; in fact, when a community of people share programs and programming code, the whole of society can benefit from better a better computer experience thanks to the community of programmers and using their shared knowledge to create useful programs.