What is the difference between code cell and input cell?

Question

What is the difference between code cell and input cell?

Answer 1

TLDR:

• Code is the default one in .wl .m files, content of Input in those cases will be commented so it won't run with << my.wl ( more: 9921
• Input does a little formatting, auto indents, line wrap etc., in Code it is what you type.
• Code is an InitializationCell so it will or ask you about evaluating it before you run anything in a fesh notebook. Could be nice or annoying, depending on your workflow.

Personal note, I prefer to control my formatting, don't care about 2D input and am annoyed by 'evaluate initialization cells prompt' so I work with .wl files with Code cells on daily basis.

Differences:

styles = {CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Code"}], CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Input"}]};
{ Complement @@ styles, Complement @@ Reverse@styles } // 
  KeyUnion // Normal // Transpose // 
  Map[
    { #[[1, 1]]
    , #[[1, 2]] /. m_Missing :> CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Code", m[[2]]}]
    , #[[2, 2]] /. m_Missing :> CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Input", m[[2]]}]
    } &
  ] // 
  Sort // Prepend[{"", "Code", "Input"}] // 
  Grid[#, Alignment -> Left, Background -> {{}, {{GrayLevel@.9, None}}}, 
   Dividers -> {{2 -> True}, {2 -> True}}] &