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. Historically, an assembler is also needed, but newer compilers often integrate the assembler and linker functions together.

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

See also

• Software
• Machine code
• Open Source