Basic Programming Terminology

A series of written commands (instructions) is called code. Code strung together for a coherent and complete purpose and able to run on its own on a computer is a program. The written out version of an entire program in its original language (assembly language or C, for example) is called source code. The importance of source code can't be understated—once a program has been compiled (converted from the original language to machine language; see the section later in this chapter) no one can have the vaguest idea what the original commands were. Trying to work backward from machine language to source code is usually a lot harder than writing a program in the first place. People do it, but typically for dishonest reasons. ...

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