The earliest programs for stored-program computers were entered in binary through the front panel switches of the computer. This first-generation programming language had no distinction between source code and machine code.
When IBM first offered software to work with its machine, the source code was provided at no additional charge. At that time, the cost of developing and supporting software was included in the price of the hardware. For decades, IBM distributed source code with its software product licenses, until 1983.[6]
Most early computer magazines published source code as type-in programs.
Occasionally the entire source code to a large program is published as a hardback book, such as "Computers & Typesetting, Volume B: TeX: The Program", "PGP Source Code and Internals", "PC SpeedScript", and "uC/OS: The Real-Time Kernel".