Object code is a well established term. GNUspeak is irrelevant. The Copyright Act defines a computer program as"a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result. " 17 U.S.C. § 101. Computer programs can be expressed in either source code or object code. "Source code is the computer program code as the programmer writes it, using a particular programming language." Compendium of Copyright Office Practices, § 321.01. Source code is a high level language that people can readily understand. "Object code is the representation of the program in machine language [binary] . . . which the computer executes." Id. at § 321.02. Source code usually must be compiled, or interpreted, into object code before it can be executed by a computer. Object code can also be decompiled into source code. Source code and object code are "two representations of the same computer program. For registration purposes, the claim is in the computer program rather than in any particular representation of the program." Id. at § 321.03. However, source code created by decompiling object code will not necessarily be identical to the source code that was compiled to create the object code.
regards, alexander.
