I don't see why anyone would want to by an Obfuscation package when they can
hire me.
I can't even read my own code.
On a more serious note, everyone knows there is big money in security,
whether it be Homeland or Software, or even Social. When it comes to the
software
side there are going to be a lot of people scrambling with DOT NET to make it
secure and to protect their intellectual properties.
I had read somewhere (Maximum PC) that DOT NET and C# was more secure than
C++.
It stated there were fewer weaknesses with the code and compiler, however it
seems that the converse is true if you are using the MSIL.
The Managed and Unmanaged Extensions using C++ seems to be a real pain in
the Nether Regions. (My apologies to the Dutch). I am not real sure if I truly
like any of the solutions being offered.
I have written Mapbasic code for a long time, and while I have created
anything earthshaking.
(Well actually I have, since I write code for the Geophysical Exploration
Industry)
I have made a decent living with Mapinfo/Mapbasic
The DOT NET coding scheme in Visual Basic and Visual C# will create many
more lines of code than what we are accustomed to with Mapbasic.
I have written some Visual Basic Script for another GIS package and compared
it to what I have written in Mapbasic for the same functionality. I found
the Visual Basic Script to be substantially larger, more commands,
declarations, words what have you.
And while the Drag and Drop programming of Visual Studio DOT NET can be very
appealing
I for one prefer to do my own typing.
I also come from a Visual Foxpro background and have found it to be very
easy to code in.
Creating forms etc is very simple, and creating the code behind those forms
and the buttons, listboxes and other events is very straightforward. You don't
see all of the surrounding code as you do in Visual Studio which takes you
to the entry point for the event on the form.
Maybe I am a dinosaur, but sometimes over-simplification leads to confusion.
In the good old days the programs we wrote and ran were procedural, and we
needed more capability than that. Then Event driven programs with a user
interface were introduced and it was a good thing. The problem is that
procedures
are being ignored as well as methodology.
I write code that is full of holes, but I know where they are and how to
deal with them and fortunately I haven't been kicked off the planet for some of
the things that I have written.
With the new development environments (Studio's) more people are going
create even sloppier code than I do and then when something goes wrong they
won't
know where to look because they bought an Obfuscator to protect their
intellectual property.
This whole thing just gave me a Migraine.
Sorry for the rant, well actually I am not sorry.
Fellow Listers,
Have a Happy Holidays
Jon Gramm
