There are also lots of solid jokes and lasting insights. There’s some technical language along with a few pretty basic mathematical concepts. This issue comprises a single story devoted to demystifying code and the culture of the people who make it. Those who don’t understand will be left behind. Now that software lives in our pockets, runs our cars and homes, and dominates our waking lives, ignorance is no longer acceptable. Which means that people have been faking their way through meetings about software, and the code that builds it, for generations. Software has been around since the 1940s.