Nets and their codes

A finitek-net of ordern is an incidence structure ofnk lines andn ² points, with any two lines either meeting once or being parallel, havingk parallel classes ofn lines each, and havingn points on each line. Finite nets are important to the study of finite planes and Latin squares.In this paper finite nets will be studied using the following linear codes: the row space of the incidence vectors of lines, the intersection of this code with its orthogonal, the code generated by differences of parallel lines, and the orthogonal to these codes. Using these codes we are able to recast the Moorhouse conjecture in terms of subcodes of the codes he uses, determine coding-theoretic reasons for a net's being maximal, and generalize a theorem of Assmus and Key which uses codes to classify finite planes of prime order.