Jon I think when it comes to the actual doing of it, you'll wonder why you never jumped into .NET or the yet-to-be-seen "MapBasicNET language" long before you did. It's a pleasure to use (much nicer than FoxPro, BTW).
This/these .NETtish threads have been amusing pre-holiday reading, from everyone. Ignorance is bliss, they say. Sure, decompiling .NET "code" with Lutz Roeder's Reflector is easy - but so is using the dotObfuscator (Community Edition, supplied with VS or downloadable for free), if you want to / need to obscure what you have written. As someone pointed out, MB decompilers are available (I don't know where, but it's a reasonable guess that they would be). It's all good fun. Ian Thomas GeoSciSoft - Perth, Australia > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, 20 December 2004 11:36 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: MI-L Cracking .NET Assemblies (was Dot NET and the Future of > MapInfo App... > > 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 14629
