On Monday, July 23, 2001, at 05:02 AM, Frank Lesser wrote:

> Pascal Bourguignon wrote.
> 	It's as easy  to get a C-source from a  machine language "binary" than
> 	it is to get a Smalltalk source from a Smalltalk image. And as easy to
> 	translate   back  to   Smalltalk  from   a  C-source   generated  from
> 	Smalltalk.
>
> I don't agree - while decompile Smalltalk is in most cases not difficult
> - even it is used to save memory - putting temp names in a method's 
> trail -
> there exist ** no ** commercial or public available
> decompilation system for C which ( despite of some experimental 
> ones ... ).

This certainly is not the case: reverse engineering tools are readily 
available (try a google search "reverse engineering tools").  Although 
few reverse engineers use these tools, preferring to use a great macro 
disassembler instead.  For most purposes, a decompiler is often too much 
and not enough tool, unless you have one particularly tuned to the 
particular compilers used to build the software.  In this, Frank assumes 
that the user knows a priori that the program was written in a 
particular Smalltalk system.  A relatively simple obfuscation effort, 
elimination of tools from an image, and rebuild of the compiler could 
hide this.

But who among us really cares about this?  I know nobody who chooses 
development tools based upon obfuscation capabilities.  Who genuinely 
believes that the lack of this "feature" renders a system unusable?  In 
making this argument, please account for Java and VB.

> My point is that deployment ( extracting an application ) from 
> Smalltalks
> development
> environment can be improved ... ( Dolphin has Lagoon Deployment 
> Wizard ).

Maybe, but currently one of Squeak's greatest features is that a Squeak 
program runs pretty much without modification on just about every 
meaningful platform out there.  One can write a multi-media application 
on a PC that will run on a Mac and Unix platform pixel for pixel 
identically and without change.

Try that with Lagoon Deployment Wizard