system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How is closed-source software possible? What prevents the computer from showing me all the lines of code that it runs?
gpt
The lines of code aren't what runs on the computer. Your computer only understands binary commands.

Human readable code is translated by a compiler into machine code wich is just a very long list of basic instructions. (Basic math, jump to line, compare numbers, read/write memory cell X)

You can reverse that, but the result is usually incomprehensible. And it can be deliberately made harder with obfuscation. (Helpful comments are also lost)

It's a bit like trying to reverse engineer a recipe from a finished cake. Ingredients are possible. Instructions are basically lost.