"Kevin B. McCarty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Evan Prodromou wrote: > > personally (IANAL) I'd consider whitespace stripping to be a > non-issue. After a change that is trivial for any downstream > recipient of the code to make (running the afore-mentioned > "indent"), the whitespace-stripped code is transformed into a > Javascript file that is functionally identical to the original even > if not bit-for-bit identical.
Careful with this. "functionally identical" is not what is needed; we need the work *in the form that's preferred for modification*, including all comments and other human-to-human communication. The entire point of getting the source code is that it's what the *human* needs as a programmer, not that it's "functionally identical" to the original program. In the case of whitespace stripping, specifically for ECMAscript (and not, e.g., Python), the whitespace *can* be stripped and re-added. But that doesn't mean that any change resulting in a "functionally identical" version of the work satisfies the "preferred form of the work for making modifications to it" test. Hence I don't think it's helpful to ask whether what the recipient receives is "functionally identical". Source code is a communication from one programmer to another, much more than it is a communication from one programmer to a CPU. -- \ "He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder." -- | `\ Maurits Cornelis Escher | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
