INFORMATICS BEYOND IT: WHERE ELSE CODE LIVES, APART FROM COMPUTERS

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the manifestations of coding principles and informatics outside the realm of computing machinery. Drawing on materials from molecular biology, commodity labeling systems, and payment infrastructure, it is demonstrated that discrete encoding, error correction, and decoding algorithms operate within living cells and in everyday goods turnover. Data from the Bank of Russia for Q1 2025 and statistics from the "Chestny ZNAK" (Honest Sign) system for 2024 are presented.

Keywords: coding, genetic code, DNA storage, Data Matrix barcode, QR code, informatics, product labeling.

Introduction

What do a DNA molecule, a barcode on a medicine package, and a QR code on a payment terminal have in common? All three objects store information in discrete form and obey the same encoding laws described in C. Shannon’s information theory. Informatics has long ceased to be a science concerned solely with computers: its framework describes the recording, transmission, and error-correcting recovery of signals in systems that lack a central processor. Digital humanities have already been integrated into the educational process as an element of digital literacy, as noted by a team from HSE University in 2025 [4]. The aim of this article is to demonstrate, using three specific subject areas, that "code" exists outside IT, and to assess the scale of this phenomenon with figures from 2023–2025.

The genetic code is a system of rules by which a sequence of nucleotide triplets is translated into a sequence of amino acids; four nucleotide "letters" combine into 64 codons that encode 20 amino acids. In 2022, a professor at Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University described the evolution of this code using linguistic methods, presenting the processing of genetic information as a communication of sign units [3]. The parallel between the genome and a text is not merely a metaphor: genes differ from one another only in the order of their symbols, just as files differ in their bit sequences.

The earlier model linked information storage exclusively to the complementarity of the double helix. In 2023, M. P. Nikitin, in the journal Nature Chemistry, experimentally demonstrated an alternative mechanism — "molecular commutation" — in which single-stranded oligonucleotides transfer and process data without forming a classical double helix [5]. We note that this result expands the very concept of a "medium": the cell processes information as flexibly as a reprogrammable logic circuit.

The idea of recording arbitrary files into synthetic DNA was formulated as early as 2013, when 739 kilobytes of data were encoded and recovered with 100% accuracy [6]. A review by L. Ceze, J. Nivala, and K. Strauss in Nature Reviews Genetics (2019) systematized the process into six steps: encoding, synthesis (writing), storage, retrieval, sequencing (reading), and decoding [7]. DNA is attractive due to its ultra-high recording density and its service life, which exceeds that of hard drives and tape.

Let us turn to recent data. A 2024 review in PubMed (ID 39220021) shows that the bottleneck remains DNA synthesis — due to low throughput and the consumption of organic solvents [8]. A review in Advanced Materials (2024) records a decade of progress in synthesis, sequencing, and DNA nanotechnology, while simultaneously enumerating unresolved challenges in practical implementation [9]. At the intersection of informatics and biotechnology, a distinct engineering field is emerging, and here the same technique as in computer communication channels is applied — Reed–Solomon error-correcting coding.

A barcode is a graphical record of data read optically. The two-dimensional Data Matrix code holds up to 2,335 alphanumeric characters and uses error correction according to the ECC 200 standard based on the Reed–Solomon algorithm — the same as in QR codes. The Russian digital labeling system "Chestny ZNAK" is built precisely on Data Matrix codes with cryptographic protection. By 2024, the system covered 33 product groups, involved nearly 990,000 companies, and the mobile application had been used by 34 million people, who checked about 400 million products [1].

The effect is measurable. According to data cited by RBC, drawing on estimates from 2023–2024, the share of counterfeit tires on the market halved, counterfeit footwear fell by one-third, and counterfeit perfumery fell by one-fifth, while additional budget revenues approached 500 billion rubles [2]. Since April 1, 2024, the list of labeled clothing has been expanded from 8 to 120 categories, at a cost of 60 kopecks per code [10]. Here, the code performs a function that is unthinkable without informatics, yet is realized on physical packaging.

The QR code transfers a "computer" encoding method into an offline transaction at the checkout. The Bank of Russia reported that in Q1 2025, the number of cardless transactions grew to nearly 11 billion, an increase of one-third compared to the same period a year earlier [11]. QR codes and biometrics accounted for about 800 million payments — almost twice as many as in Q1 2024; the amount of purchases using these instruments increased by 389 billion rubles and exceeded 1.1 trillion rubles [11]. Each such scan is a decoding of an optical signal and a check of check digits — that is, a classical problem of coding theory.

Conclusion

The analysis has shown that informatics principles are implemented far beyond the confines of computing machines. The genetic code stores data within the cell; synthetic DNA is becoming an archival medium; and Data Matrix and QR codes carry digital identification onto goods and payments. We have found that in all three cases, a unified set of tools is at work — discrete encoding and Reed–Solomon error correction. A likely scenario for the coming years is that the falling cost of DNA synthesis will make molecular archives economically viable, while comprehensive product labeling and the growth of QR payments to 11 billion transactions per quarter will cement the presence of "code outside IT" as part of everyday infrastructure.

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