eli5 How exactly is the source code of an app/software being “locked”? What is protecting it from being seen?
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To answer your question, OP – nothing. It is generally possible to take an application you have on your computer and decompile it to see the source code.
The big catch (that I feel like some folks in this thread have touched upon) is that modern software is EXTREMELY complex. It is built using a programming language that was built upon another language that was built upon another one…10 more levels down.
As a result, in software development, an enormous amount of time and effort is spent on making code readable (by another human). There are cases where developers will even settle for what they know is slightly less effective code, because it’s more readable and easier for other developers to understand.
You lose all of this readability when you compile the code, because the compiler doesn’t care about any of that readability. So while you can technically decompile it, the code you end up with will usually not be of much use to anyone.
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