What is the difference between source code and object code?

[John]

What is the difference between source code and object code?

[John]

Source code is the category of computer language instructions that is most frequently written and read by software programmers. A computer cannot generally run a program in source code form though. The source code is translated, with the use of an assembler or compiler, into a language form that contains instructions to the computer known as object code. Object code consists of numeric codes specifying each of the computer instructions that must be executed, as well as the locations in memory of the data on which the instructions are to operate.

While source code and object code are commonly referred to as different classes of computer language, these terms actually describe the series of transformations a program goes through when being converted from a higher level language more easily comprehensible to humans to the lower level language of computer operations.