upcode

plural upcodes

1. computingThe behavioral norms which influence how software (or "downcode") is produced.

   1 more example

   Upcode includes the mental codes that shape human thought and behavior from within and the cultural codes that operate on us, often invisibly, from without: personal morality, religious rituals, social norms, legal rules, corporate policies, professional ethics, website terms of service. Downcode is run by computers, upcode by humans.

   2023, Scott J. Shapiro, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, pages 12-13

present singular third person upcodes · participle present upcoding · participle past upcoded · past upcoded

1. USmedicineTo change the diagnostic code of a patient's condition from the correct code to one for which a larger amount can be billed.

   Several factors appear to have fueled the PBD epidemic: […]; and diagnostic upcoding in the U.S. health system that rations treatment according to DSM diagnoses [ 14 ].

   2014 March 28, Peter Parry, “Biologism in Psychiatry: A Young Man’s Experience of Being Diagnosed with “Pediatric Bipolar Disorder””, in Journal of Clinical Medicine, volume 3, →DOI

2. To give an improved code or rating to something.

   Introduction of more wagons fitted with vacuum brakes and roller-bearing axleboxes has made it possible to up-code trains conveying steel and coal traffic.

   1962 June, “Talking of Trains: W.R. up-codes mineral and coal trains”, in Modern Railways, page 373