Quite correct Mark.
Writing code is only a small part of the development effort for any significant
program. Requirements-gathering, design, testing, documentation, distribution
and life-cycle outweigh the coding cost.
Additionally, writing code is really quite simple, compared to the other phases.
What this means is that if someone chooses to copy your program, they probably
won't bother to look at the code, they'll just copy the idea and code from
scratch.
Perhaps a good analogy is the family car. Line up the basic products from
different manufacturers and it can be hard to tell them apart. Clearly there's
a lot of copying going on somewhere. But look closer - not a component in
common between them (excluding third-party subsystem components - e.g. tyres,
alternators - and OEM - e.g. rebadged Mazda 323 in Ford livery).
It's the concept which is worth copying, not the code itself.
Dave S
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Van Peteghem
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Java] Worry about Java decompilers
jithendra nath wrote:
> Hi Java experts,
>
> Iam stunned by the technology solutions given by java. But I have
> one question regarding developing commercial applications in Java.
> When decompiling byte codes back to original source code is very
> easy for applications written in Java, how do we protect the
> Intellectual Property involved in developing that Java application? I
> have heard about obfuscators, but are they sufficient enough to secure
> my code?
> Basically I want to develop some commercial application using
> Java, but worried about it getting decompiled and losing all my
> efforts. Can any one advice me on this?
I haven't heard about companies decompiling programs of other companies
and using the code to put in their own programs. I think it happens for
small pieces of code, but not for whole applications. If they do that,
it would be obvious that it is (almost) the same, and you could sue them.
--
Mark Van Peteghem
http://www.q-mentum.com -- easier and more powerful unit testing
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