My latest article is now available on Huffington Post. It goes a bit like this:
Source code is a collection of computer commands and comments written in a programming language, like Java, C or Swift. When compiled, the raw source code is then no longer human readable but runs very efficiently. Because compiled code isn’t easily disassembled, people cannot create their own versions of the software.
That Was Then…
Once upon a time, organizations needed a copy of source code, in case a software vendor went out of business. Software vendors didn’t want to give up source code, but no one can ever guarantee they won’t go out of business. So much like putting funds into an account in a real estate deal, this allowed organizations to trust that they could get access to source for mission critical apps in the event that the software vendor went under. I remember working with one such organization back in the 90s.
