Source code

Source code is the statements and declarations, usually in human readable form, the specifies a computer program. Knowledge of programming is usually necessary in order to read and understand source code in a program.

Example

The following is an example of a C program that when compiled and executed prints the words "Hello world" to the screen. A C compiler and linker is necessary to compile the program and turn it into an executable.

/* This is a C language program comment */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
main()
{
  printf("Hello wolrd.");
}

See also

• Software
• Machine code
• Open Source