CTFE and DI: The Crossroads of D

[Adam Wilson]

On Thu, 10 May 2012 11:51:00 -0700, H. S. Teoh <hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx>  
wrote:

> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 08:26:45PM +0200, Paulo Pinto wrote:
>> Am 10.05.2012 00:34, schrieb Joseph Rushton Wakeling:
>> >On 10/05/12 00:25, H. S. Teoh wrote:
>> >>Which is what fueled the market for hundreds (if not thousands) of
>> >>JS obfuscators.
>> >
>> >Well, that's kind of my point really. Is it so bad (from a
>> >proprietary point of view) to have to distribute .d rather than .di
>> >files, if you can obfuscate them?
>>
>> Try to find an error on an obfuscated dump.
>>
>> Not fun.
> [...]
>
> Yeah, like those Javascript errors from deep within the compressed core
> of Yahoo UI or jQuery, which are impossible to figure out because
> function names, variable names, etc., are all compressed. It's much
> worse with deliberately obfuscated source.
>
> But it still wouldn't stop a determined code thief. This is one of many
> reasons I prefer OSS. Trying to prevent code "theft" is an exercise in
> futility, reduces utility, and only results in debility.
>
> But if the only way for some people to be happy is to obfuscate their
> code, well, then they just have to live with the consequences.
>
> Anyway, all of this just backs up my proposal that instead of
> obfuscation, we just store the parsed source (or publically-exposed
> parts of it) in the object file in some kind of intermediate form (like
> ASTs). Don't bother with .di's at all, just generate the ddocs and let
> users use that as reference, you just ship the binary shared lib. The
> compiler can load the ASTs as necessary whenever it needs function
> bodies, etc.. Problem solved.
>
>
> T
>

I think this represents the best possible long-term strategy. However,  
getting D to do all that is going to take a *LOT* of effort. I've decided  
that I will propose just such a project later today, but I'll need help.  
Linkers aren't easy and the changes to DMD will be even worse. In the end  
though, we'll get a modular linker written in D and COFF support for DMD.  
But we need something in the mean time and for now the DI patch will  
suffice.

-- 
Adam Wilson
IRC: LightBender
Project Coordinator
The Horizon Project
http://www.thehorizonproject.org/