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In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is text (usually plain text) that conforms to a human-readable programming language and specifies the behavior of a computer. A programmer writes code to produce a program that runs on a computer.

Since a computer, at base, only understands machine code, source must be translated in order to be used by the computer and this can be implemented in a variety of ways depending on available technology. Source code can be converted by a compiler or an assembler into machine code that can be directly executed. Alternatively, source code can be processed without conversion to machine code via an interpreter that performs the actions prescribed by the source code via the interpreter's machine code. Other technology (i.e. bytecode) incorporates both mechanisms by converting the source code to an intermediate form that is often not human-readable but also not machine code and an interpreter executes the intermediate form.

Most languages allow for comments. The programmer can add comments to document the source code for themself and for other programmers reading the code. Comments cannot be represented in machine code, and therefore, are ignored by compilers, interpreters and the like.

Often, the source code of application software is not distributed or publicly available since the producer wants to protect their Intellectual property (IP). But, if the source code is available (open source), it can be useful to a user, programmer or a system administrator, any of whom might wish to study or modify the program.