ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Adaptive coding

Adaptive coding is a way of writing computer programs that can change as they learn and get more information. It's like when you learn something new, and then you can use that knowledge to do things differently in the future.

Imagine you are playing with building blocks, and your mom tells you that you need to stack them in a specific order. At first, you might not know which way is the best way to stack the blocks, so you just try different ways until you find one that works. Then, you remember the way that worked and do it the same way next time.

Well, adaptive coding is like that. The computer program starts with some basic instructions, called code, and it tries them out to see if they work. If they don't, it tries something different. But here's the cool part: as the program tries different things, it can remember which ones worked and which ones didn't. This way, it can learn from its own mistakes and get better at solving problems.

Let's take an example of a picture recognition program. At first, the program might not be very good at recognizing different objects in a picture. But as it looks at more and more pictures and gets feedback on whether it guessed the objects correctly or not, it can start to learn patterns and get better at recognizing things.

So let's say the program sees a lot of pictures of cats and dogs. At first, it might not know the difference, but as it sees more and more examples and learns from its mistakes, it can start to figure out what makes a cat a cat and what makes a dog a dog. It might learn that cats have pointy ears and long tails, while dogs have floppy ears and wagging tails. With this knowledge, the program can now look at new pictures and make better guesses about whether it's a cat or a dog.

It's like if you were playing a guessing game where you have to guess which animal your friend is thinking of. At first, you might just guess randomly, but as your friend gives you hints, you learn what to look for and make better guesses.

Adaptive coding is important because it helps computer programs become smarter and more efficient over time. It allows them to learn from their own experiences and adapt to new situations. Just like how you learn new things every day, computer programs can too!