Is it true that dotnet code "open"?

[William Ryan]

Yes, you can disassemble the Intermediate language of C#, VB.NET , etc.
ASP.NET is a technology, not a language and you can write ASP.NET apps in
both VB.NET and C# (as well as HTML and javascript).

You can use Ildsam.exe to disassemble code but I think your Java freinds
aren't telling the whole story. You can obfuscate it, there is a free tool
call .NetFuscator in VS.NET 2003 in addition to many third party tools which
are all very reasonably priced.

It's not meant to be a security risk, and the fac tyou can disassemble code
isn't some oversight on the part of MS. Also, someone has to have your DLL
or exe to disassemble it, and if they access your source .dlls on a web
server, you have a bunch of security issues.

..NET is IMHO the coolest technology to come out in a a while. I've
programmed with Java for over 3 years and I like it too, but .NET has it in
just about every category I can think of. With a little work, you can
write secure and fast apps.

 

[Tom Leylan]

Having spent quite some time with VB 6 and prior, I have been considering
moving to VB.Net and ASP.Net. However, some developers here (Java) have told
me that the code is not "secure" in that it is easy to decompile. Can anyone
shed some light on this regarding the two languages listed?

Carl: A bit interesting to have this come from Java developers because
Java developers have the same concern. That's why Java "obfuscators" hit
the market shortly after the introduction of Java and why .Net obfuscators
exist already.

The lack of code security (relative to native code compilers) is due to the
translation into MSIL (an intermediate language) much like Java's byte-code.
You might want to look up references on MSIL for more information.

Tom

 

[Alvin Bruney]

Try salamander to resource the IL.

 

[S C A]

Dear Group:
Having spent quite some time with VB 6 and prior, I have been considering
moving to VB.Net and ASP.Net. However, some developers here (Java) have told
me that the code is not "secure" in that it is easy to decompile. Can anyone
shed some light on this regarding the two languages listed?

Thanks in advance,
Carl

 

[S C A]

Thanks for the pointers everyone.
Carl