Re: Java vs Unix

>>>>> "Frank" == Frank Foss <fozzie_beer_at_hotmail.com> writes:

 Frank> "ThePotPlants" <thepotplants_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message  Frank> news:ovCva.12495$vZ1.134338_at_news.xtra.co.nz...
>> > Java - write once, debug everywhere Ahh thanks...
>>
>> > > Are there any pro's or cons in doing this? Can anyone think of
>> any > > alternatives?
>>
>> > PERL's DBI/DBD interface
>>
>> I considered perl, but I thought it could be ripped off too
>> easily. I'm wanting to use a language that, can't read/pilfered.
>> (I'm wanting to sell the app to a couple of clients.)

 Frank> Okay, I see your point, but isn't that pretty much what
 Frank> licence agreements are for?  Sell your intellectual property
 Frank> under a licence agreement that is sufficiently strict, and you
 Frank> should be able to recover your losses (in court, if needed)

 Frank> Or, maybe I'm just missing the point entirely.

 Frank> Foz

What about using the perl compiler and compiling the perl sources? Last time I looked, the perl compiler was still beta level, but that was over 2 years ago - don't know if its more stable now and on wat platforms it will work on.

I also remember seeing a perl module which could be used to make it very difficult for anyone to read your perl sources. Not sure what technique was used - seem to rmember it had something to do with translating bytes to different values or different character sets - something like that. Probably wouldn't give 100% protection as there must be a way of translating back within the app in order for the interpreter to parse it, but it might provide some protection. Check the perl site as I think there is info there on how to protect/hide your source code.

Personally though, I'd be careful about using perl for anything other than fairly simple applications - for complicated applications, maintenance with perl can become a real pain.

-- 
Tim Cross
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