It's just the human readable code prior to being compiled into machine readable code or an executable format. Literally just the code people write for the application to work. If it's revealed to the public then we can see how it works and determine if there is any political bias in the algorithms.
While technically very incorrect, if you are not trained in computer science and only focus on the human element of writing code, the two could be interchangeable. When people say "learn to code" they generally mean writing source code.
Humans speak English (the only language that matters of course). Computers speak Japanese (binary). Humans write in English and have it translated (compiled) into Japanese. The English is the source code. The Japanese is the filthy derivative code nobody cares about except the Japanese (computer).
When you run a program on your computer you generally only have access to the Japanese version. Fuck trying to translate that shit backwards.
Maybe. It depends on the context. "Source code" implies something that humans can read and write. It can also imply having all the programming files necessary for building or compiling a particular application. For example, you can go to github.com and download the source code for all kinds of applications.
Simply using "code" can imply those things too, but it can be ambiguous. It can mean machine code, or binary code, or just a piece of code, etc.
Source code is typically commented and much more readable, easy to follow and understand what is going on, for a programmer. Its the code the programmer writes and reads.
Code could be the same but also might be the compiled code, which is stripped of helpful comments and nicely named variables etc, so is much harder to understand even for a programmer. Its the code the computer writes, based on the source code, and reads into its memory to do the calculating and controlling of monitors and whatnot.
Yes, source code and code can be used interchangeably. Whether it is human readable or machine language doesn't matter, code is code. An applications source code can be open sourced or closed source. Open source means it is 100% available to anyone to read/download/alter. Linux is open source. Windows is closed source. Musk is talking about making Twitter's closed source code open.
I get what code is, and I get what "open source" is. But I've never been clear about what "source code" is, in terms of it being different from just plain code.
Source code is the code before it has been compiled. Humans can read the source code, seeing what algorithms are in it, seeing what comments are in it (might be very telling), they can see how it works, etc. Computer chips (CPUs) don’t talk in this language and thus it must be converted (compiled) into machine language that CPUs understand which is all 1s and 0s.
If you just managed to get your hands on the compiled code, it may take you forever to reverse engineer how the code works. You won’t get the comments either.
It’s kind of like trying to recreate a magic trick. You can see how the trick works and start to figure out how you might be able to recreate the trick, but with so many things hidden from you it may be impossible for you to understand how the trick really works.
Thanks. I always knew the difference between machine language and code languages, I guess I just missed it when the "source code" term evolved. That's a good explanation. I hate tool-generated covfefe anyway.
The panic about open source is it means source code is open to the public. Source code is basically the main program running. Open source means open to public or broad group.
basically the code is everything back end non graphical that makes literally everything on computers and machinery work, it is the instructions on how to display things and what to do when certain actions are taken that the computer or machine reads
open source code can be audited personally by the user, so it is very consumer friendly and a vouch of confidence by the creator to just leave it open source and allow anybody to see; but most big companies like to keep it proprietary and not release the source code and harrumph something about security (which could be fixed by making it open source so people could tell them the security risks for FREE)
What it basically says is this: there is an APK, android package, it is going to be broken down into its components, then you can load it into emacs-software to inspect the the code and determine what it does, colloquially known as source code.
Think field-stripping a gun and then checking the parts under an electronic microscope, etc.
It's just the human readable code prior to being compiled into machine readable code or an executable format. Literally just the code people write for the application to work. If it's revealed to the public then we can see how it works and determine if there is any political bias in the algorithms.
So are the terms "code" and "source code" interchangeable?
While technically very incorrect, if you are not trained in computer science and only focus on the human element of writing code, the two could be interchangeable. When people say "learn to code" they generally mean writing source code.
Humans speak English (the only language that matters of course). Computers speak Japanese (binary). Humans write in English and have it translated (compiled) into Japanese. The English is the source code. The Japanese is the filthy derivative code nobody cares about except the Japanese (computer).
When you run a program on your computer you generally only have access to the Japanese version. Fuck trying to translate that shit backwards.
Thank you. That's helpful.
Maybe. It depends on the context. "Source code" implies something that humans can read and write. It can also imply having all the programming files necessary for building or compiling a particular application. For example, you can go to github.com and download the source code for all kinds of applications.
Simply using "code" can imply those things too, but it can be ambiguous. It can mean machine code, or binary code, or just a piece of code, etc.
HTH!
It does. I got a bunch of good answers, and this one adds useful context. Funny thing is I had to look up HTH.
Source code is typically commented and much more readable, easy to follow and understand what is going on, for a programmer. Its the code the programmer writes and reads.
Code could be the same but also might be the compiled code, which is stripped of helpful comments and nicely named variables etc, so is much harder to understand even for a programmer. Its the code the computer writes, based on the source code, and reads into its memory to do the calculating and controlling of monitors and whatnot.
Thank you!
Yes, source code and code can be used interchangeably. Whether it is human readable or machine language doesn't matter, code is code. An applications source code can be open sourced or closed source. Open source means it is 100% available to anyone to read/download/alter. Linux is open source. Windows is closed source. Musk is talking about making Twitter's closed source code open.
Thank you!
Once they open source their code(as in make it public) all their dirty secrets will be out in the open
I get what code is, and I get what "open source" is. But I've never been clear about what "source code" is, in terms of it being different from just plain code.
Source code is the code before it has been compiled. Humans can read the source code, seeing what algorithms are in it, seeing what comments are in it (might be very telling), they can see how it works, etc. Computer chips (CPUs) don’t talk in this language and thus it must be converted (compiled) into machine language that CPUs understand which is all 1s and 0s.
If you just managed to get your hands on the compiled code, it may take you forever to reverse engineer how the code works. You won’t get the comments either.
It’s kind of like trying to recreate a magic trick. You can see how the trick works and start to figure out how you might be able to recreate the trick, but with so many things hidden from you it may be impossible for you to understand how the trick really works.
Thanks. Very helpful. This group is great.
Code can technically mean machine code (like assembly language) or coffee that was generated by some tool and not easy for humans to read.
Source code specifically refers to the human readable code.
Thanks. I always knew the difference between machine language and code languages, I guess I just missed it when the "source code" term evolved. That's a good explanation. I hate tool-generated covfefe anyway.
The panic about open source is it means source code is open to the public. Source code is basically the main program running. Open source means open to public or broad group.
Have you ever seen the Matrix? Like that....only not black and green...
basically the code is everything back end non graphical that makes literally everything on computers and machinery work, it is the instructions on how to display things and what to do when certain actions are taken that the computer or machine reads
open source code can be audited personally by the user, so it is very consumer friendly and a vouch of confidence by the creator to just leave it open source and allow anybody to see; but most big companies like to keep it proprietary and not release the source code and harrumph something about security (which could be fixed by making it open source so people could tell them the security risks for FREE)
I believe it was a movie staring Jake Gyllenhal where he came back from the dead to stop a fake train from exploding
https://github.com/lxdvs/apk2gold
Read as of "usage", a bit scrolling down.
What it basically says is this: there is an APK, android package, it is going to be broken down into its components, then you can load it into emacs-software to inspect the the code and determine what it does, colloquially known as source code.
Think field-stripping a gun and then checking the parts under an electronic microscope, etc.