Software source code is a form of literature, written by humans to be read by humans as well as machines. It gives us a view into the mind of the designer, and studying code can teach us both historical and practical lessons.
The Software Heritage project to collect, preserve, and share all publicly available source code will be an extremely valuable resource for researchers, programmers, and students of technology worldwide. It is complementary to our own work in software preservation, and we offer our enthusiastic encouragement to the team. They are kindred spirits.