Distribution

[David Goodger]

on 2000-04-22 01:57, Highdesertman (HighdesertmanREMOVE at yahoo.com) wrote:
> If I use python to develop an application for the windows 9x environment,
> I have already downloaded the appropriate libraries and version) what form
> does the finished program take?

Python is an interpreted language, as far as the programmer & user are
concerned. A Python program is a text file, the "source code".

> How does it get distributed?

As a text file, perhaps as a .zip or .tar.gz archive of several files &
directories. Also, some parts (extensions) may be written in C (for speed),
and these may be in either binary or source (text) form.

The user must have Python installed. But since it's absolutely free with no
strings attached whatsoever, and multi-platform to boot, that's not a
problem.

> But since Python
> remains relatively unknown as yet, the average user isn't likely to have a
> python interpreter handy.

Python is becoming more popular with each passing day. Anyone with Linux has
it. Anyone else can get it, free.

> In addition, one of the real advantages of the
> development of the compiler was that it gave your code a level of protection
> against being tampered with and made it easily useable by a wide audience.

One of the greatest advantages of interpreted languages in general, and
Python in particular, is that their programs can be run under multiple
operating systems (if they are written correctly, of course). You are
running Win95. I run MacOS. Bruce runs Linux. We can all run the same Python
program. Result: even wider audience!

If someone really wants to get into (decompile, reverse engineer) a compiled
program (.exe), they can. It takes some work to do this, but compiling is
not secure encryption.

If you release your code to the public, slap a copyright on it. Make it open
source, and you may be surprised; if someone else finds it useful, they may
just fix/extend/modify it and return the improved version to you. See
http://gotools.sourceforge.net/links.html for some links to sources of
further information.

-- 
David Goodger    dgoodger at bigfoot.com    Open-source projects:
 - The Go Tools Project: http://gotools.sourceforge.net
 (more to come!)