Source-code compatibility (source-compatible) means that a program can run on

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...

(or operating systems), independently of

binary-code compatibility Binary-code compatibility (binary compatible or object-code-compatible) is a property of a computer system, meaning that it can run the same executable code, typically machine code for a general-purpose computer CPU, that another computer syst ...

and that the source code is needed for

portability Portability may refer to: *Portability (social security), the portability of social security benefits * Porting, the ability of a computer program to be ported from one system to another in computer science ** Software portability, the portability ...

. The source code must be

compiled In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

before running, unless the computer used has an interpreter for the language at hand. The term is also used for

assembly language In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language, or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence be ...

compatibility, where the source is a human-readable form of machine code that must be converted into numerical (i.e. executable) machine code by an assembler. This is different from

, where no recompilation (or assembly) is needed. Source compatibility is a major issue in the developing of computer programs. For example, most Unix systems are source-compatible, as long as one uses only standard libraries.

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

systems are source-compatible across one major family (the Windows NT family, from NT 3.1 through Windows 10, or the family that includes Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me), with partial source compatibility between the two families.

References

Backward compatibility Source code {{Compu-prog-stub

See also

References