Source Code and Object Code

15 CFR 772

Source code is generally understood to mean programming statements that are created by a programmer with a text editor or a visual programming tool and then saved in a file. Object code generally refers to the output, a compiled file, which is produced when the Source Code is compiled with a C compiler. The object code file contains a sequence of machine-readable instructions that is processed by the CPU in a computer. Operating system or application software is usually in the form of compiled object code.