Coding, also known as computer programming, is the process of translating human instructions into a language that tells machines what, how, and when to perform those tasks.

When instructing a computer, you use programming languages such as Python, C, JavaScript, and Java. These languages enable you to create websites, apps, games, and nearly every other digital tool and platform available today. At its core, code is about logic and well-structured thinking. Coders and programmers create algorithms or step-by-step instructions for solving problems or automating processes.

The ancient roots of coding

Although coding appears to be a completely modern concept, its origins can be traced back to the first attempts to programme machines, long before electronic computers were invented. In the ninth Century, the Banu Musa brothers invented mechanical musical instruments like the automatic flute player and in 1206, Al-Jazari invented automated drums made using pegs. Such examples of encoding machine instructions, even in their most basic mechanical form, foreshadow modern coding.

Who was the first-ever programmer?

The real birth of computer coding is widely attributed to Ada Lovelace, a British mathematician of the 19th Century. Working alongside Charles Babbage, who designed the first mechanical computer called the Analytical Engine, she wrote a series of instructions intended to be processed by a machine. In 1843, she published what is recognised as the world’s first computer program — an algorithm to calculate Bernoulli numbers for Babbage’s machine.

Growing tech languages

Over the years, technological progress continued. However, the real revolution arrived with the concept of the stored-program computer.

After World War II, the advancement of electronic computers demanded more systematic ways to program. Early computers were programmed directly in binary — a series of 1s and 0s known as machine code. Coding at this level was complex and prone to errors, driving the development of higher-level languages.

In 1957, one of the earliest and most significant coding languages, FORTRAN (“FORmula TRANslation”), was introduced. FORTRAN let coders write their programs in a language closer to mathematics, marking a leap towards wider accessibility. Languages like COBOL (business), LISP (AI research), BASIC (education), and C (systems and OS development) soon followed, each expanding the possibilities of coding and its societal reach.

The development of the personal computer in the 1970s and the surge of the internet in the 1990s led to coding moving from exclusively in the hands of specialists to the general public, evolving rapidly in scope, style, and accessibility.

Coding in today’s world

Today, coding is everywhere. It powers not just computers but smartphones, electric cars, medical devices, and the base of finance, communication, and even government. It is no longer limited to software professionals, and even young children have opportunities to learn basic coding concepts.

Modern coding uses languages that are more readable and logical, such as Python, JavaScript, and Swift. The open-source movement (the social movement promoting the free and collaborative development of software by making source code or designs publicly available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute) has brought collaborative coding to the forefront, letting people across the globe share, refine, and innovate code together.

The people who first coded machines years and years ago once stood at the intersection of imagination and logic to create an innovative invention that people could only dream of back in their day. That element of surprise still continues as a tradition among coders everywhere today.

Published – October 29, 2025 10:00 am IST

Herat, Afghanistan:

Wood shavings littered the floor of Sakhi’s cramped workshop in the Afghan city of Herat as another rubab, the national musical instrument of his homeland, took shape under his deft hands.

Sakhi has crafted two rubabs a month for decades, and he refuses to set down his tools even as a Taliban crackdown strangles music in Afghanistan.

“I know only this work and I need to make money somehow,” said Sakhi, surrounded by rubabs in different stages of completion.

But far more important to him than money is the “cultural value”, said the craftsman in his fifties, whose name has been changed for his safety along with those of others interviewed by AFP.

“The value of this work for me is… the heritage it holds. The heritage must not be lost,” he said.

The UN agency UNESCO agrees, recognising in December the art of crafting and playing the rubab as an intangible cultural heritage in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

Made of dried mulberry wood and often inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the lute-like rubab is one of the oldest instruments in the region, its twanging sound stretching back thousands of years.

But that heritage is threatened in Afghanistan under the Taliban authorities’ near-total ban on music, considered corrupting in their strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Since coming to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have banned music in public, from performances to playing tracks in restaurants, in cars or on radio and TV broadcasts.

They have shuttered music schools and smashed or burned musical instruments and sound systems.

Many Afghan musicians fled out of fear or in need of work after losing their livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest countries where jobs are scarce.

The Taliban authorities have encouraged former musicians to turn their talents to Islamic poetry and unaccompanied vocal chants — also the only forms of music allowed under their previous rule from 1996-2001. 

‘Peace to the soul’

Amateur rubab player Gull Agha has a picture of his teacher from that time, the pieces of his rubab broken by Taliban authorities cradled in his lap.

Since their return, Taliban morality police have also destroyed one of Gull Agha’s rubabs and made him swear to stop playing. 

But he still sometimes strums a rubab he made himself for tourists visiting Herat, long a cradle of art and culture in Afghanistan, though he laments that it slips easily out of tune. 

“The main thing that motivates me to continue playing the rubab is to make a contribution to Afghanistan — we should not let the skills of our country be forgotten,” he said. 

But as professional musicians went into exile and his former students saw no future in practising, he fears the craft will atrophy.

“It’s our duty to pass on our local music to the next generations as our ancestors passed it down to us,” said the 40-year-old.

“Rubab is an art… art brings peace to the soul.” 

He started playing more than 20 years ago during a music revival in Afghanistan after the end of the previous Taliban rule. 

At that time, organisations to support artists sprung up in the country. 

Mohsen, a long-standing artists’ union member, choked back tears as he recalled how their musicians were always “a fixture of the happy moments in people’s lives”.

“Unfortunately, happiness has been taken from this nation as well as from the artists,” he said.

Mohsen is still optimistic about the future of the rubab in Afghanistan, saying musicians inside and outside the country have been spurred to keep its traditional music alive. 

“People don’t play for money now, they play to bring joy to others and so the music survives,” he said. 

“No force, no person, no system can silence its sound.” 

‘Never lost’

Rubab player Majid was once a fixture of the many musical performances in the capital Kabul.

But he had not played the rubab for more than three years out of fear of being overheard, until one December afternoon when he picked up a rubab in a house near a street of now-shuttered music shops.

Smiling, he struck the strings but stopped abruptly as the courtyard door banged open, fearing it was Taliban forces.

The neck of his 35-year-old rubab was previously broken when morality police raided homes after the Taliban takeover.

He repaired it the best he could, and still regularly tends to his “dear rubab”, he said, gently running his hands over the instrument.

“As long as I live, I will keep it with me, and I hope my children will keep it… but no matter what, rubab culture will not be lost,” said the 46-year-old.

“Music is never lost. As they say, ‘There can never be a death without tears or a wedding without music’.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Afghan primary school girls make their way to home near the Shuhada lake in Kabul on March 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Taliban have deliberately deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, a U.N. agency said on Thursday (August 15, 2024). Afghanistan is the only country in the world with bans on female secondary and higher education.

The Taliban, who took power in 2021, barred education for girls above sixth grade because they said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. They didn’t stop it for boys and show no sign of taking the steps needed to reopen classrooms and campuses for girls and women.

UNESCO said at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since the takeover, an increase of 300,000 since its previous count in April 2023, with more girls reaching the age limit of 12 every year.

“If we add the girls who were already out of school before the bans were introduced, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80% of Afghan school-age girls,” the UNESCO said.

The Taliban could not be immediately reached for comment.

Access to primary education has also fallen since the Taliban took power in Aug. 2021, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, according to UNESCO data.

The U.N. agency warned that authorities have “almost wiped out” two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan. “The future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy,” it added.

It said Afghanistan had 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019. The enrollment drop was the result of the Taliban decision to bar female teachers from teaching boys, the UNESCO said, but could also be explained by a lack of parental incentive to send their children to school in an increasingly tough economic environment.

“UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage,” it said.

The Taliban on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) celebrated three years of rule at Bagram Air Base, but there was no mention of the country’s hardships or promises to help the struggling population.

Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation and unemployment is high.

Kabul:

At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with the future of an entire generation now “in jeopardy”, the United Nations’ cultural agency said Thursday.

Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, UNESCO said in a statement as the Taliban authorities marked three years since retaking Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.

“UNESCO is alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage,” the agency said.

“In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy.”

There are now nearly 2.5 million girls deprived of their right to education, representing 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls, the UN agency said.

The Taliban administration, which is not recognised by any other country, has imposed restrictions on women that the UN has described as “gender apartheid.”

Afghanistan is the only country in the world to stop girls and women attending secondary schools and universities.

“As a result of bans imposed by the de facto authorities, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021,” UNESCO said.

This represents an increase of 300,000 since the previous count carried out by the UN agency in April 2023.

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay urged the international community to remain mobilised “to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women.”

The number of primary pupils has also fallen. Afghanistan had only 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019, UNESCO said.

The UN agency blamed the drop on the authorities’ decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys as well as the lack of incentive for parents to send children to school.

Enrolment in higher education in equally concerning, the statement said, adding that the number of university students had decreased by 53 percent since 2021.

“As a result, the country will rapidly face a shortage of graduates trained for the most highly-skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems,” UNESCO said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Sado mines are believed to have started operating as early as the 12th century and produced until after World War II.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A network of mines on a Japanese island infamous for using conscripted wartime labour was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List on July 27 after South Korea dropped earlier objections to its listing.

The Sado gold and silver mines, now a popular tourist attraction, are believed to have started operating as early as the 12th century and produced until after World War II.

Also Read: Assam’s Charaideo Moidam included in UNESCO World Heritage list 

Japan had put a case for World Heritage listing because of their lengthy history and the artisanal mining techniques used there at a time when European mines had turned to mechanisation.

The proposal was opposed by Seoul when it was first put because of the use of involuntary Korean labour during World War II, when Japan occupied the Korean peninsula.

UNESCO confirmed the listing of the mines at its ongoing committee meeting in New Delhi on July 27 after a bid highlighting its archaeological preservation of “mining activities and social and labour organisation”.

“I would like to wholeheartedly welcome the inscription… and pay sincere tribute to the long-standing efforts of the local people which made this possible,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in a statement.

The World Heritage effort was years in the making, inspired in part by the successful recognition of a silver mine in western Japan’s Shimane region.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it had agreed to the listing “on the condition that Japan faithfully implements the recommendation… to reflect the ‘full history’ at the Sado Gold Mine site and takes proactive measures to that end.”

Historians have argued that recruitment conditions at the mine effectively amounted to forced labour, and that Korean workers faced significantly harsher conditions than their Japanese counterparts.

“Discrimination did exist,” Toyomi Asano, a professor of history of Japanese politics at Tokyo’s Waseda University, told AFP in 2022.

“Their working conditions were very bad and dangerous. The most dangerous jobs were allocated to them.”

Also added to the list on July 27 was the Beijing Central Axis, a collection of former imperial palaces and gardens in the Chinese capital. The UNESCO committee meeting runs until July 31.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that India will contribute one million dollars to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to provide support for heritage conservation in countries, especially of the Global South.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi today, PM Modi said that India considers the preservation of global heritage as its responsibility, and hence, is providing support for heritage conservation not only in India but also in countries of the Global South.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee, PM Narendra Modi says, “…To know India, new thinking free from concepts is needed. I appeal to all of you to become a part of the new understanding of history that is developing in the light of new facts.… pic.twitter.com/9VmiFeKdth

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2024

“India considers the preservation of global heritage as its responsibility, and hence, we are providing support for heritage conservation not only in India but also in countries of the Global South. India is assisting in the conservation of many heritages like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Cham Temples in Vietnam, and Bagan Stupa in Myanmar. In this direction, I am making an announcement. India will contribute one million dollars to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. This grant will be used for capacity building, technical assistance, and the conservation of world heritage sites,” PM Modi said.

“A certificate programme in world heritage management has also started in India for young professionals,” he added.
The Prime Minister also appealed everyone to come together to advance each other’s heritage.

“Today, through the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, India’s appeal is to come together to advance each other’s heritage. Let us unite for the expansion of human welfare sentiments. The world has also seen a time when heritage was ignored in the race for development, but today’s era is much more aware,” PM Modi said.
He also asserted that India’s vision is both development and heritage.

“In the past 10 years, India has touched new dimensions of modern development and has also pledged to take pride in its heritage. Be it the Vishwanath Corridor in Kashi, the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, or the modern campus of the ancient Nalanda University. Numerous such works are happening across the country. Today, the benefits of Ayurveda are reaching the entire world, but it is India’s scientific heritage,” he added.

PM Modi also pointed out that India’s heritage is not just history, it is also science.

“In India’s heritage, one can witness a glorious journey of top-notch engineering. Just a few hundred kilometers from Delhi, at an altitude of 3500 meters, is the Kedarnath Temple. Even today, that place is so geographically challenging that people have to walk a lot or go by helicopter. It is astonishing that the construction of the Kedarnath Temple was done in the 8th century. Its engineering took into account the harsh environment and glaciers,” he said.

“There are various centers of heritage in the world, but India is so ancient that every point of the present narrates a story of a glorious past. The world knows Delhi as the capital of India, but this city is also a center of thousand-year-old heritage. Here, at every step, you will witness historical heritage. About 15 kilometers from here, there is an iron pillar weighing several tons. A pillar that has been standing in the open for 2000 years, yet it is rust-resistant to date. This shows how advanced India’s metallurgy was even at that time. It is clear that India’s heritage is not only history, but it is also science,” PM Modi added.

The Prime Minister also informed that a historic place in north-east India has been proposed to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

“The World Heritage Committee’s program is a proud achievement for India. I have been informed that the historic “Maidam” of North East India is proposed to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This will be India’s 43rd World Heritage site and the first heritage site in North East India to receive the status of a cultural world heritage,” PM Modi informed.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An aerial view of a mural depicting Palestinian photographers Mohammed Al-Masri (L), Ali Jadallah (2nd L), Abdelhakim Abu Riash (R) and Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary (2nd R) in Ilford, east London, on March 28, 2024, as part of a project launched by the art platform Creative Debuts called “Heroes of Palestine”.
| Photo Credit: AFP

UNESCO on May 2 awarded its world press freedom prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, where Israel has been battling Hamas for more than six months.

“In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances,” said Mauricio Weibel, chair of the international jury of media professionals.

“As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”

Audrey Azoulay, director general at the UN organisation for education, science and culture, said the prize paid “tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances”.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 members of the press have been killed since the war broke out in October, 92 of whom were Palestinians.

The war started with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 129 captives seized by militants during their attack remain in Gaza. The military says 34 of them are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34,596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.

In another regressive move, The Taliban have banned women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, BBC reported. Afghanistan’s acting minister of virtue and vice, Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, said women have not been observing the proper way to wear the hijab while visiting the park.

“Going sightseeing is not a must for women,” said Hanafi as he urged security organizations and religious leaders to prohibit women from entering until a solution was found.

”There are complaints about lack of hijab or bad hijab, these are not Bamiyan residents. They come here from other places,” Sayed Nasrullah Waezi, head of the Bamiyan Shia Ulema Council told Tolo news.

Established in April 2009, Band-e-Amir National Park is Afghanistan’s first national park and remains a popular tourist spot. UNESCO describes the park as a “naturally created group of lakes with special geological formations and structure, as well as natural and unique beauty”.

The decision has raised concerns among human rights advocates. ”Not content with depriving girls and women of education, employment, and free movement, the Taliban also want to take from them parks and sport and now even nature, as we see from this latest ban on women visiting Band-e-Amir,” said Heather Barr, the associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch.

“Step by step the walls are closing in on women as every home becomes a prison,” she added. 

UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan wrote on X, ”Can someone please explain why this restriction on women visiting Band-e-Amir is necessary to comply with sharia and Afghan culture?”

Can someone please explain why this restriction on women visiting Bande Amir is necessary to comply with Sharia and Afghan culture? #womensrightsarenotnegotiablehttps://t.co/QbC6azYbmm

— UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett (@SR_Afghanistan) August 27, 2023

Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power, the Taliban have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage. A few months back, they barred entry of families and women into restaurants with gardens or green spaces in Herat province, Afghanistan, reported Fox News.

Women in the country are also prohibited from leadership posts, banned from university and secondary education, and not allowed to work as well as travel unless accompanied by a male companion. Many public places, including bathhouses, gyms, and parks, have also been made off-limits for women.