When a software developer writes software, he writes instructions and saves them in a text file. The computer can’t actually run the instructions in the text file as-is. It must first be converted to machine code before it can run. Machine code is not human readable and is excruciatingly difficult for a human to work with directly. Therefore, more human readable languages have been created that people can actually work with. Unfortunately, machines don’t understand those languages. Which is why it must be converted (or compiled) into machine code. The text file and the instructions in it that the human wrote are what is called “Source Code”.
Once a program is converted to machine code (compiled), the newly created files that are what are distributed to the users of the software. The source code is highly protected by the creators of the software, in the majority of cases. For example, the source code to the Microsoft Windows Operating System is highly protected at Microsoft. They go through extraordinary lengths to prevent their source code from making it out of the building. Source code is protected because if a company’s competitors get a hold of it, they can put forth just a small amount of effort to remove the original company’s copyright notices and anything identifying the software as being created by the original owners, then modify the UI just enough to make it look like their own creation. They’d let the first company spend all their resources to architect, build, and test the software, then they could steal it.
Some organizations aren’t as worried and freely give out the source code to their software. In fact, there’s a huge movement called “open source” where people and organizations design and write software with the full intentions of giving away the software for the purposes of sharing.
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