[portland] Protecting Intellectual Property In Python Applications

[Gordon Morehouse]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Jython as a potential solution.
Compile to Java bytecode.

http://www.jython.org/

It was the first thing that came to my mind.

Of course, this wouldn't prevent dedicated reverse engineers, nor
would anything else other than presenting your product as a service.

-Gordon

>  Python is an interpreted scripting language with outstanding mathematical
> libraries and a great UI development tool in wxPython. Unlike complied
> languages such as C the underlying code is visible to everyone who looks at
> it. This is a problem when the application is unique and proprietary.
>
>  Consider the context. Suppose you wrote an application that analyzed -- in
> real time -- a commercial building's energy use and made adjustments that
> saved 50% of the energy formerly consumed. You want to sell this application
> to building owners and managers but you don't want actual or potential
> competitors to appropriate your intellectual property that figuring out the
> energy savings represents. It's your business, your ideas, and your
> potential source of financial independence. How would you protect the
> underlying source code from being mis-used by a potential competitor when
> you sold your application to clients?
>
>  My situation is analogous and I don't want to start over by re-writing
> everything in C. Your suggestions and recommendations are wanted.