Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!pacbell!hoptoad!hsfmsh!dumbcat!marc
From: marc@dumbcat.UUCP (Marco S Hyman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Do class libraries have to be in source form?
Keywords: libraries, source, C++
Message-ID: <126@dumbcat.UUCP>
Date: 23 Nov 89 06:22:38 GMT
References: <176@taumet.UUCP> <29023@genrad.UUCP>
Reply-To: marc@dumbcat.UUCP (Marco S Hyman)
Organization: MH Software, Hayward, Ca.
Lines: 38

I've thrown away my three previous responses to <176@taumet.UUCP> but can
not restrain myself any longer.  (Oh, oh.  I'm getting on my soapbox again).

In article <176@taumet.UUCP>, mike@taumet.UUCP (Michael S. Ball) writes:
    2.  Why to vendors of class libraries want to distribute object-only
        versions rather than source code.

Many companies believe that their secretiveness gives them a competitive
edge.  In a way they are right.  If they distribute the source to their
libraries then everybody could learn what they know and they would therefore
have to compete on price, or service, or by staying ahead of the
competition.  A scary thought. (That's something you have to be succussful
to do).

Secrecy is the way we do business.  Control of information is power.

An example of this point of view is the way business looks at patents.
Congress has the power "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts,
by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right
to their respective Writings and Discoveries.''  U.S. Constitution, Article
I, Section 8.  Patents are a bribe: you share what you have learned/invented
and we'll give you exclusive rights -- even if someone else discovers the
same thing independently -- for a limited time.  However, business doesn't
think of a patent as sharing information.  It's a way to limit competition.
Power.  It's a wonder that any vendors do distribute source.

In article <29023@genrad.UUCP> dxb@genrad.UUCP (Daniel A. Burkhard) writes:
    I have yet to see documentation that fully replaces source!

As long as I'm on my soapbox... I have yet to see source that fully replaces
documentation.

Actually, that is a lie.  Literate programs fit the bill.  Is anybody out
there working on tools for ``Literate C++'' ???

// marc
-- 
// Marco S. Hyman		{ames,pyramid,sun}!pacbell!dumbcat!marc