haha great thread falcon.
to answer your question, raw binary code would have to be recognized by the computer as an executable (or binary) file. Double clicking the file's icon (in Windows) would run it.
binary code is too hard for humans to read, though, so assembly code was invented. this is also too hard to read, so "higher level" languages like c++ were invented. this is too laborious to use, so even higher level languages like python were invented, and so on. these languages are all still very simple, but you can see where the trend leads... someday soon we should be able to speak falcon to the computers, doubtless.
most "computer code" you hear about is written in a language like c++. this code uses standard english letters and symbols, and arabic numerals, and is saved in language specific file formats (such as .cpp and .h for c++, .java for java, .py for python, .c for c, etc.). this code usually needs to be compiled (some languages don't require compilation, however) which converts the human-readable code all the way down to machine code ("10011010101001" etc.).
This "compiling" is done by a program called a compiler. Compilers translate the code you write into machine code, or binary, (in most cases) by following the specifications of the language you are writing in. So, your code is the input for the compiler program, and the output is a binary, or executable (.exe in windows) program. The operating system (such as windows, mac osx, linux, unix, etc.) is an essential part of any computer system. The operating system is responsible for actually executing the binary machine code. Meaning, when you double click some program (binary code), it's the operating system's responsibility, from that point on, to ensure that the program is run.
So the process works like this:
human has an idea -> human writes high level language code (c++, java, etc.) -> human runs a compiler program with their code as input -> compiler program produces machine code "binary executable" as output -> human tells an operating system (like windows) to run this executable program (by double clicking it, or typing its name into a command line interpreter - or shell - program, and pressing enter) -> your code dictates the behavior of the computer system from that point on (at least in part) = your program is "run" or "executed."
Actually, if you'd like to know a little more, read on:
The machine code for a program just looks like a big string of 1s and 0s, or bits. These bits can be grouped, usually into groups of 16, 32, 64, etc. depending on the machine you are writing code for (ever hear of 32-bit and 64-bit processors?).
Each of these groups of bits is an instruction. Instructions can be something like "add two numbers", "subtract two numbers", "store some data here", "load some data there", "jump to this part of the program", "test if this number is less than that number".
The actual 1s and 0s specify the "on" and "off" state of various hardware components in the machine. For example, there is a component of most CPUs called the "ALU", or "arithmetic logic unit". This hardware component is responsible for a lot of things, like adding and subtracting numbers (hence the "arithmetic").
So, suppose, just as an example, you have the code: 10110111
just eight bits... suppose this is an instruction for a VERY basic computer (most computers today have 64 bit instructions).
suppose the first two bits ("10") are code for what operation to do:
00 = add
01 = subtract
10 = multiply
11 = divide
and the next two ("11") are the left and right hand operands for this instruction. in this case, they are both "1" which, in binary, is also 1 (in decimal).
so this instruction means: "1 * 1"
The actual 10 will be piped into the ALU through another bit of hardware, and this will inform the ALU that it must multiply the operands. The "1" and "1" will then be piped into the part of the ALU responsible for receiving operands, and it will spit out the answer to "1 * 1" into a memory location. That's what the last "0111" of the instruction is for: where to store the result. With four bits, 16 unique locations can be identified by a number. In this case, we want the result of our 1 * 1 operation to be stored in memory location "0111", which in binary is 7. So, the 7th memory location.
And basically, this is how computers work. As you can see, that's a lot of work just to multiply 1 and 1 and it's very hard to know that "10110111" means "multiply 1 * 1 and store the answer in the 7th memory location" at a glance. that's the reason people invented assembly languages, which typically have a unique english word for each operation the computer is capable of, so this instruction might be something like
MUL 1, 1, 7
meaning, multiply 1 * 1 and put the answer in spot seven.
This is still really hard, in practice, to wrap your head around, so people invented C++ and the like where you can assign symbols to represent memory locations, such as
int result;
result = 1 * 1;
The above lines mean that we want to create a new symbol to represent an integer, and then we want this integer to be the product of 1 and 1. We no longer have to worry about which memory location, exactly, in the hardware, will actually store whatever value the symbol "result" represents. This makes things a lot easier, in the long run.
With each new, higher level of programming language, less and less knowledge of the computers inner workings are required (at least at some level) of the programmer. Eventually, we should be able to communicate with computers without having to know much about how they work at all... but for now, a language like c++ is pretty much the standard for someone who wants to create a very useful program, the type of which you are familiar with (Windows, internet explorer, word, excel, videogames, etc.).
I'm sure some of the more savvy computer users will take issue with some of the things I wrote, but quibbles aside, that's basically how most code works, and computers in general.
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By the way, a c++ compiler is included with Microsoft's program "visual studio" and on many linux, unix, mac type operating systems by default. Something like Java is a lot easier to get started with for a windows user, as the compiler is easily downloaded along with some other essential materials from Oracle's website.
