On Fri, 16 Jun 2006, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
An application is a binary, and the source code is all the files needed to produce that binary given a set of tools.
What's a "binary" ?...
the word "binary" was subverted to mean "non-text" where it's assumed that text is some version of ASCII. However, so-called "binaries" contain a segment called "text" which is native machine code (just ask /usr/bin/size about it...)
if the application is a text file, then is it really an application?... and then, can that text file be the source code at once?
if the thing called source code is made of text but has been generated by some tool, is it still possible to call it source code?
What if the source file is not ASCII-based? (e.g. Microsoft's BASIC or IRCAM's jMAX)
_ _ __ ___ _____ ________ _____________ _____________________ ... | Mathieu Bouchard - tél:+1.514.383.3801 - http://artengine.ca/matju | Freelance Digital Arts Engineer, Montréal QC Canada