# Source code

Computer program code is a text written in any of the programming languages\. It is first of all meant to be written and edited by a human\. Computer program code is also called source code or software source text\.

Source code is transformed into executable processor instructions prior to being executed by a compiler or is directly executed by an interpreter of a programming language\.

When writing computer program code, it's important that you stick to the following rules:

* the code must be readable and comprehensible;
* it must be easy to modify and debug;
* there must be as few compiler warnings as possible for this code\.

It's first of all humans who need code formatting and accurate editing\. The compiler can easily figure out a text like this:

```cpp
int foo(int N)
{int i=0;for(int y=0;y<N;y++){i+=y*y;}return i;}
```

But you agree that a human will find it hard to understand what exactly the program does, don't you? And here is a code that does quite the same thing, while being edited in a proper way:

```cpp
int Sum(int N)
{
  int sum = 0;
  for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)
  {
    sum += i * i;
  }
  return sum;
}
```

When a software product is being developed by several developers, it's a good practice to follow a single [coding standard](https://pvs-studio.com/en/blog/terms/0008/) to make the code clear to others\. It will significantly simplify computer program code development and maintenance\.

## References

1. Wikipedia\. [Source code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code)\.