source code
also: source, code, program text
Human-readable program instructions written in a programming language that must be compiled or interpreted to run on a computer. It's the original form before transformation into executable machine code.
Source code is the text-based representation of a program that developers write using programming languages like C, Python, Bash, or Java. Unlike compiled binaries (machine-executable files), source code is meant to be read and modified by humans.
In Linux development, source code is typically organized in directories and compiled into executable binaries. For example, the Linux kernel source code is a massive collection of C files that are compiled to produce the kernel image that your system boots.
When you download open-source software on Linux, you often receive the source code rather than just binaries. This lets you inspect the code for security issues, understand how it works, and compile it optimized for your specific system using tools like gcc or make.
Example: A simple C program stored in hello.c is source code; after compilation with gcc hello.c -o hello, the resulting hello executable is the compiled binary.