Comment by 082349872349872

a Shannon-inspired taxonomy (note the indefinite object; ymmv):

- glue code: given the outputs, you can reconstruct the inputs. this code translates between formats, between systems, etc.

- parsley code: given the outputs, you could reconstruct the inputs. this code "gussies up" its inputs: it takes table rows to JSON, or JSON to framework objects, PDF, etc. so in principle the original data is still there, but once the outputs are sufficiently complex the inputs become extremely awkward to reconstitute.

- crunch code: given the outputs, you have no hope of reconstructing the inputs. this code does real computation, and forgets stuff. Example: You can get a source program given only an executable, but you won't get the source that it was compiled from (nor will you, without a lot of work, even get a source you're willing to read)