i know a little of &#106avascript, and while i find it to be a very cool lanugage, anyone can view your code. java however (to the best of my knowledge) is compiled, so other people can not see your code. so i want to learn java. does anyone have some articles on java and know of a free java compiler so i can get started on that? thanks

The similar naming creates a lot of confusion. &#106avascript and Java are not the same thing at all. They aren't even remotely related (well, they do share a C-like syntax). Any language can be decompiled, however, the OP point is that, since &#106avascript is interpreted directly, it is visible to anyone who want to spend 0.5 seconds clicking the view source button in their browser (assuming a owser is used. In that regard, yes, Java will be harder to decompile than &#106avascript, which is not compiled at all.

I can't for the life of me understand why they chose the name "javascript". It's as related to Java as PHP is to Ansi C.

The reason anyone can see your code is that it's designed to be that way. The purpose of &#106avascript is to add scripting capabilities to the browser, not to be a general purpose language. And pretty much everything that goes to the browser is text.

Java was made to be easy to "compile". Compilation, in this case, meaning translation to bytecode. However, the other way around is also easy, and Java decompilers will produce amazing results. The only workaround for that is obfuscation. Same with C# (and all .NET languages).

However, don't let this old textbook stuff confuse you. Nowadays, Java code is most likely compiled. If you've got a properly configured Sun VM, try on the command prompt:

java - version

You'll most likely see:

Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_06-b03)Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.2_06-b03, mixed mode)

HotSpot is a compiler. That is, translates bytecodes to ASM instructions. Due to that, and advancements in VM itself, Java code is much faster than it's used to be.


Bottom line: &#106avascript for Web pages. Java for pretty much everything else.<br><br>For a compiler: go to java.sun.com and get the JDK. That's free (the actual compiler is called javac, and is included).<br><br>For a kickass IDE, if you've got a decent amount of memory, try Eclipse (www.eclipse.org).

Quote:Original post by Gink
I think all programs can have their source code viewed, regardless of whether it is compiled or not.

That is true. After all, everything is turned to assembly instructions, and those can be viewed no matter what. In fact, that's how most "cracks" are made.

Now, if you mean the *original* source code, then the answer would be no. A "decompiler" *can* try to guess at what the original code was, but with languages like C there are a lot of ways to accomplish the same result, or even different outputs for the same input, with something as trivial as a compiler version change. Plus variable names are often not kept (unless you've got a debug build). The reason Java (and .NET) are so easy to decompile is that they store a lot of metadata on their assemblies, and that bytecodes/MSIL are easy to translate back and forth.

I like to think that choosing a language based on how easy it is to decompile is often not a wise choice. Not like that will wield a useful build :)