Object code

Object code has been defined as “a translation of the source code language into the machine language of the computer (e.g., binary coding using zeros and ones or hexadecimal coding using letters and numbers or octal coding using zero to seven) that the computer [execute]]s. Only instructions expressed in object code can be used ‘directly’ by the computer. Thus the source code is converted into electrical impulses to carry out the tasks set forth in the source code. The binary code of machine code (or object code) is virtually unintelligible to programmers.” CONTU Final Report 54 n.109 (1978).

“Object code often is directly executable by the computer into which it is entered. It sometimes contains instructions, however, that are readable only by computers containing a particular processor, such as a Pentium processor, or a specific operating system such as Microsoft Windows. In such instances, a computer lacking the specific processor or operating system can execute the object code only if it has an emulator program that simulates the necessary processor or operating system or if the code first is run through a translator program that converts it into object code readable by that computer.” Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, 111 F. Supp. 2d 294, 306 n.18 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (footnotes omitted).