{"id":1287,"date":"2011-08-18T14:52:52","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T14:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/source-code\/"},"modified":"2017-01-04T13:37:45","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T13:37:45","slug":"source-code","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code","title":{"rendered":"Source Code"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_source_code_mean\">What Does Source Code Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Source code is the set of instructions and statements written by a programmer using a computer programming language. This code is later translated into machine language by a compiler. The translated code is referred to as object code.\n<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_source_code\">Techopedia Explains Source Code<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Source code is the source of a computer program. It contains declarations, instructions, functions, loops and other statements, which act as instructions for the program on how to function. Programs may contain one or more source code text files, which can be stored on a computer&#8217;s hard disk, in a database, or be printed in books of code snippets.\n<\/p>\n<p>Programmers can add comments to their source code to help other developers understand it. Short scripts can also be run from source code using a scripting engine such as VBScript or the PHP engine.\n<\/p>\n<p>While large programs frequently reference hundreds or thousands of files, it is not uncommon for small programs to use just one source code. If there are many source files, the program may be organized into different sections. If a single file contains all the program&#8217;s variables and functions, it can be hard to locate specific sections of the code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Source Code Mean? Source code is the set of instructions and statements written by a programmer using a computer programming language. This code is later translated into machine language by a compiler. The translated code is referred to as object code. Techopedia Explains Source Code Source code is the source of a computer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[230,239,244,216],"class_list":["post-1287","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-privacy-and-compliance","definitioncat-productivity-software","definitioncat-programming-languages","definitioncat-software-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Source Code? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Source Code and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Source Code\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Source Code and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-04T13:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Source Code\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-18T14:52:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-04T13:37:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code\"},\"wordCount\":203,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/547\/source-code\",\"name\":\"What is Source Code? 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