DNA seen through the eyes of a coder (ds9a.nl)

Whoa, what an interesting read for the uninitiated! And considering the page has already been up for many years I'm surprised I hadn't come across it before.

Especially the chapters "Holy Code" and "Makefile" contained information I never expected.

Thanks for the link although it looks like it will not hit the front page.

Bert, you forgot epigenetics, specifically methylation.

Or maybe that was intentional, since technically this is "code" that is passed outside of DNA.

But it forms a significant and mysterious part of the "final program". Not to be ignored.

I first encountered the term "intron" when reading about Quines: http://www.madore.org/~david/computers/quine.html

which made me wonder if "introns" in DNA are similar. After all, DNA can also be viewed as a "program" that prints its own source code out...

As a coder this is a fascinating read, but since this is the internet I am dying to hear from more educated readers on how close to reality it is.(that is why I hang around here) any takers?