Source Code
Source code refers to the human-readable instructions written in a programming language that instruct a computer to perform specific tasks. It serves as the foundation for software development, allowing programmers to create applications, websites, and other software systems. Source code is typically written using text editors or integrated development environments (IDEs) and is saved in files with specific file extensions corresponding to the programming language being used, such as “.java” for Java or “.py” for Python. Programmers write source code to implement algorithms, define data structures, and specify the logic and behavior of software systems. Once written, source code is often compiled or interpreted into machine code by a compiler or interpreter, respectively, before being executed by a computer. Source code is a crucial asset in software development, enabling collaboration, version control, and maintenance of software projects.
References: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only understands machine code, source code must be translated before a computer can execute it. The translation process can be implemented three ways. Source code can be converted into machine code by a compiler or an assembler. The resulting executable is machine code ready for the computer. Alternatively, source code can be executed without conversion via an interpreter. An interpreter loads the source code into memory. It simultaneously translates and executes each statement. A method that combines compilation and interpretation is to first produce bytecode. Bytecode is an intermediate representation of source code that is quickly interpreted.