Source code is called source because it’s the original verbose code that gets transformed through a compiler. The compiler output can be machine code which are special numbers the computer can interpret as instructions or minified code so the file size is smaller or even a totally different language through transcompilation. In all cases the source code is what was maintained by a human and is the original source of truth, while compiled code is transformed by a computer and it’s either condensed which makes it hard to read and loses informational context, or it’s transformed automatically which may not be as clean or idiomatic. Source code can have multiple compile targets so if you were to modify compiled code to change its behavior it would be very hard to collaborate or distribute those changes since it would only apply to one target. The source code is important because it’s easier to understand and it’s more organized and it’s a common source of truth that multiple developers can collaborate on.