Difference between Ciphers and Codes

Okay so we know that in cryptography we use Ciphers in order to maintain the secrecy of the message that we want to send. We also know that there is other method to maintain the secrecy of message and that is through codes. But there is a vast difference between a Cipher and a Code. Cipher is a systematic function with three parameters (Plain Text, Key, and Cipher text) where key is generally randomized over a large range of variables. Whereas, a Code is generally open for all and is usually used for the sake of simple mode of conversion of secret messages.

Difference between codes and ciphers:

Basically code is something that is openly available and is usually used for sake of faster transmission between the sender and the recipient. For e.g. MORSE CODE. This code uses the dots and dashes structure of encoding to convert text into some easily transmittable format. It was developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. The morse code was designed to transmit messages through telegraph. But the problem with a telegraph machine was that it could only transmit dots and dashes. Due to this a secondary script was constructed and the morse code was designed.

This is the illustration for the morse code. You start from the top and everytime you go right, you put a dash and every time you go left you put a dot in the way. So likewise, E is equivalent to . and T is equivalent to - . Hence that way you can get to any letter and find its morse equivalent.