Re: Games - A question

[csj <csj@mindgate.net>]

On Friday 30 November 2001 03:13, John Hasler wrote:
> csj writes:
> > We rarely get to see the source code for a novel.
>
> Just as well, since none of us have the compiler anyway.

Well, I'm trying to compile my first novel using Abiword ;-)

> > The source for a novel is the writer's draft or revision marks.
>
> When you release Free Software do you include all your "drafts" and
> "revision marks" with the source?
>

Not drafts, but the /*comments*/ on well-maintained source. These 
comments are useless to the compiler. But helpful to the human who 
wants to improve or learn from it. I would also add to this good 
variable names, etc. 

> You need source code in order to be able to produce derivatives of a
> program because compilation is a one-way hash.  When you've got a
> human-readable copy of a novel you have everything you need to be
> able to produce derivatives.

Derivatives of whatever quality, yes. You can do the same with 
reverse-engineering Windows XP. But to carry my analogy further, there 
are species of readers who do have access to the source code for a 
novel. They're called critics, though they're more bug-busters than 
creative hackers.

-- 
Sir Isaac Newton:
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."