Emoji Coding

It was 7.30 a.m - the Sun was up and I was ready to start my day with a morning run. After a daily morning prayer, I decided to drop a message to one of my good and close friend in hope that she would wake up early amidst the intensive examination revision period; unlike previous times, I planted a bombshell in the form of a string of emoji-s as shown above (Credits: emojifoundation.com)

Without a shadow of a doubt, I'm confident she'll be able to comprehend the message, which was split into 4 distinct images. In many ways, we're similar in the sense that we speak the same languages, stuck within the same generation, studying in the same university and born in the same country; with that said, there would be a metaphorical platform consisting of the commonality of interpreting this string of picturesque variables.

For instance, the first picture on the left is literally an alarm clock - situated within a contemporary context, it is hard to dispute that it is not an alarm clock and question the existence of it. Hence the ability to comprehend emoji, and its associations with coding programming, is a recent phenomenon which is yet to be explored thoroughly.

As much as we tend to use emoji in our text messages to spur the aesthetics elements and diverge from the boring text syllabus, I believe that emoji faces the problem of subjective interpretation which potentially prevents it from being effective as a coding program.

Based on second emoji from the left as shown at the top of the post, that picture of what seems to be a bell is not definite. In the vivid imaginations of some, it could reflect the church bells. For others, it could mean a smaller bell like those jingle bells on a Christmas tree. These examples are indicative of the ontological output of the picture in a noun form. On the flip side, it could imply a buzz or a ringing sound - even so, the sound which is played in one's head is also different. Henceforth, subjectivity is an issue due to the nature of the emoji variables despite a general consensus in interpretation.

Imagine if there're so many ways to explain a single variable, just imagine the diverse range of comprehension needed for a string of emoji-s - it can only get more complex.

(On a side note, doing well in the emoji game which forces you to interpret a string of emoji-s, I feel is a scary thing; while one might think he might be smart in comprehending the variables and translating them into words, it is ultimately the end of subjectivity. Subjectivity, in most cases, is a good thing because it adds to the diversity of our human existence).

Since the deciphering technique of an emoji code is primarily based on one's understanding of the individual emoji, an emoji coding program requires a great deal of streamlining - to converge one's ontological process of coding.

Prior to explaining this point, I understand the use of emoji in coding. I mean, it is easy to replace a chunk of words with a emoji.

For instance,

var alarmClock can be replaced solely with the first picture from the left in the form of functions (e.g. timing to wake up).

var text = "Wake up" can be replaced with the last two pictures on the right.

Also, it would be cool and interesting to print out (console.log) the emoji to beautify the coding program; for instance, we could make our prompt and pop out more interesting. Along similar line of thoughts, if let's say we are setting conditions (if/else), we could replace basic numerical integers with the picturesque emoji numbers (which I feel is the same thing) or replace the burden-some less than or equal (<==) or more than or equal (>==) signage (typing them is troublesome).

However, in the case of var text, this could prompt difficulties in the basic use of an array and consequently the looping system. Say we use the alarm clock emoji as an example, it would be difficult to extract the substring of this emoji as opposed to an alarmclock. As such, identifying the text length becomes an issue because typing 'alarmclock' out explicitly shed light on the text's length.

Back to the point of streamlining, it is a good thing for the realm of programming since computing in most cases are done in the English language. What emoji-s provide is the common platform for people of diverse culture and languages to meet and understand each other; as such, coding would be can be made accessible to all and emoji-s - like programs can be easily understood by many.

This is a good thing. However, more needs to be done in the streamlining process prior to establishing an emoji coding program; while it is already out there, more refining is needed.

In the mean time, we can colour our lives with emoji-s - they are taking over the world.. well, it all depends on how we see and understand them.