Digital data depth | about software self-control, source code left, no code right

All quick 2022 Years. , Why do software projects require vendors to deliver source code ？

Thousands of lines of code, thousands of lines of sorrow ,

A line of notes will last forever .

If you let me know who wrote ,

Let him break his hands .

—— anonymous

This is the author's recent 5G A limerick I saw while surfing , Using the routine of Chinese teachers to interpret is ： This poem uses exaggerated analogy , It deeply reflects the poet's hatred of code maintenance .

As mentioned in the topic , Why does Party A insist on delivering the source code ？ To the source code, you can rest assured ？ How to rationally view the commercial value of code ？

Why does Party A require the delivery of source code ？

Software delivery is like delivering a built house , So architectural drawings 、 Wiring diagrams need to be delivered with everything , For the later maintenance of the house . In a software project , The source code is like these architectural drawings , The source code shall be delivered during project acceptance to facilitate Party A's subsequent maintenance of the software .

For software delivery, this turnkey project , The customer thinks that mastering the source code is the key to the software initiative , If there are new requirements and changes in the future, you can modify the code to adapt to , No more expensive maintenance costs .

In addition, Party A will think that the source code is the core value of the software , It's an original logo , Intellectual property rights belonging to the owner . After the source code is handed in , Party A with certain ability can also modify the code twice to become its own thing , The application software is displayed in the company's honor cabinet , Or take the order and continue to do the second and third projects .

Xiaobian has heard of a telecom software supplier A A friend of the company mentioned a story , At that time, China began to promote virtual operators , An e-commerce giant J Got the license of the Ministry of industry and information technology , Bought A A small amount of the company license After the telecom billing system, it is required to turn in all the source code .A The company believes that virtual operators are in a blue ocean in China , Happily signed the contract . result J The company reconstructed the billing system by using the turned in source code , In the second year A When you collect the authorization fee, you will A Si kicked out .

In addition to the above two cases , There is another special situation in China , It is the policy requirements of some secret related industries , Enterprises with high security requirements will scan the source code to ensure the overall compliance of the software system .

In conclusion , Party A wants the source code only for Self control 、 Continue to open two times 、 Safety compliance . So it seems , As long as there are relevant clauses in the contract , It makes sense to deliver the source code , gain ten thousand percent .

Is that really the case ？

Want to achieve “ Software development freedom ”, You can't overestimate the role of source code

Let's look at a passage from life , It is said that the important reason why the codes of large domestic manufacturers are unwilling to open is that they are too poorly written , Once open source , No one dares to use their products . This tells us , There are already many excellent on the Internet like Linux Open source code , Don't overestimate that the code written by yourself or others is really huge “ Commercial value ”.

Policies change when they say they change , When the project was delivered, it was still a two-child policy , Just delivered the three child policy and opened it , Need to add a process .

The leader passes this requirement to the development manager , Try to change Party B's code to , Go online next month .

But if you simply expect to have the source code, you can achieve “ Software development freedom ”、 You can do whatever you want , I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointed .

I said that before , Software development is like building a house , Code is better than bricks for building houses , When the quality of bricks is not good , Neither the reliability nor the stability of the system can be guaranteed . We have to face a reality , In order to catch up with the project progress, some companies actually deliver average code quality , Programmers don't think much about reuse when writing code .

Not all companies can submit fully standardized products , Party A's final acceptance is only functional test 、 Performance testing , There is no way to verify the quality of code . So even reluctantly , It must be admitted that , The code delivered by Party B can run normally , And don't make mistakes , That's the cow x, Don't expect high quality .

in addition , The delivery of the source code is also important to Party B “ Smash your own job ” The risk of , If the customer is fully capable of maintaining 、 Developed software , What are you looking for . In the matter of unwilling and having to deliver the source code , At a domestic forum “ Give a part of , They only have part of the code that is not very useful ”、“ Give some wrong versions ”、“ The source code document gives a simpler ” Such a proposal .

Thousands of lines of code, thousands of lines of sorrow , A line of notes will last forever .

How hard is the code delivered like this to maintain ？ Here's another post I've read ： Programmers are fired by the company 12 days , No one on the original team can take over the code he wrote , The former leader asked him to go back to the company and explain the code clearly , Employees reply ： Ten thousand at a time .

I can't take over the code produced by my team , Not to mention the code written by others . Old code is not easy to test 、 There is no guarantee that the new code is correct 、 Or change a new requirement to introduce an old function and report an error ... These will also bring great instability to the system .

Modifying Party B's code is time-consuming and laborious , How much independent and controllable space can it actually bring to Party A ？

This question is difficult to answer , Bad code itself is not a simple measurable thing , No evaluability .

Last , Zoom in a little , The delivery of source code is not conducive to the standardization development of the software industry .

Look away from the source code itself , Take a look at the entire software industry .2020 year ,SaaS The proportion of public cloud in China is only 25.5%, Far below SaaS Share of public cloud in the United States 67.1%.

We know , The standardization of software will greatly reduce the total cost of ownership of application software （TCO）, Improve the efficiency of the whole industry . However, due to the fierce market competition in China 、 Party A's customers have vague requirements for product functions 、 Changeable and other reasons , The proportion of customized code in the project is higher and higher , The standardization of the software industry has a long way to go .

Software manufacturers are facing the complex customization needs of large customers and high labor costs , There is no time to improve code quality , Create standardized products .

No source code is required , Can still achieve self-control

So much has been said before , It seems that the delivery of source code is Party A's original sin , Have seriously affected the standardization development of China's software industry . Party A's father is so innocent , They just want to control themselves ！ What's wrong with them ！

If you can't solve the problem of code quality in the short term , Getting the source code for secondary development is just dancing with Anklets , It is not the only way to realize independent control , Don't we just avoid writing code ？ Escape is shameful but useful .

Just imagine , If there is such a platform , The platform integrates various elements of enterprise software , Include forms 、 Navigation 、 View 、 Menus are highly abstracted into drag and drop components , Users can build enterprise applications without writing code , Used to deliver products and projects , It greatly reduces the complexity of development . what's more , The built application can pass Party A's function test and performance test just like the application generated by writing code .

Such a platform , Actually, some manufacturers have made it , Or pure domestic —— Enterprise codeless software platform Smartdata.

Use Smartdata The software project developed after acceptance , Party B does not need to hand over the code , The built application precipitates as a standardized product into enterprise assets , Realize large-scale replication and delivery of similar projects ; Party A does not need to receive and reconstruct the code , Through platform “ What you see is what you get ” Application building interface , The secondary function adjustment can be completed , Very convenient , Improve work efficiency several times , The relationship between Party A and Party B is heating up rapidly .

It realizes self-control 、 After continuous second opening , Here comes the question ： Can the delivered applications meet the security needs of secret related enterprises ？ Can you apply for soft work ？

Enterprise code free three axes

1.    You can apply for a soft book

Through enterprise codeless platform Smartdata The built application contains the knowledge and wisdom of designers and builders , There is no doubt that the Creator （ Natural and legal persons ） All have copyright , You can apply for software copyright . Copyright protection refers to the application part built by users on the basis of the platform , Not the platform itself . It's like through Office A novelist , Only enjoy the intellectual property rights of novels , And not enjoy Office Software copyright .

In order to cooperate with users of codeless platform to apply for software copyright ,Smartdata Aspect means that it can be used by the contracted user when applying for software copyright , Provide relevant application materials .

The above is the software application in the Software Book Applied by platform users （ Build with a codeless platform ）

2.    Meet safety and compliance requirements

In terms of safety compliance , In fact, it may be different from what you think , Codeless platform is favored by secret related enterprises . It is precisely because the confidentiality and security requirements of the industry are very high , The fewer external personnel involved in development, the smaller the risk of security leakage . Products delivered without a code platform , Relevant users can adjust their internal requirements , Do quick iterations , Avoid long-term involvement of too many outsiders , Greatly improve the security of the system .

3.    For the benefit of both parties

Using codeless platforms is important for software vendors （ Party B ） The benefits are obvious , Large scale project replication , It can save time, labor and cost more than traditional development methods , Help enterprises expand rapidly 、 Occupy the market . At the same time, backbone developers can arrange to do higher value things , Focus on industry domain models , Invest in new product innovation , Achieve business growth .

As for the value of codeless platform to Party A , Take the three child policy as an example , Need to add three child application page 、 Approval process 、 Check the logic to calculate an account ：

The traditional way of development		After using no code
When Party A's team has the ability to refactor the code	Can develop the whole staff all in Work overtime for one month to understand and modify tens of thousands of lines of code delivered by Party B , Realize the new needs of leaders , Also test that the functionality of the old code is not affected .	Rely on the enterprise level codeless platform , Design requirements in half a day ,2 Function adjustment can be completed in days ,3 Days of integration testing , Shortened 75% Modified on , Saved 5-10% The maintenance cost of .
Party A's team is incompetent	Additional requirements change fees shall be charged according to the code development workload , Generally, it is calculated as per the total amount of the project 5%-10%.

There is no success once and for all . I don't think it's original sin to deliver source code , But if you change your mind, you can give Party B more profit space , Give party a more independent rights , For the present IT The industry provides greater productivity , Why not keep your mind fresh 、 Put it into practice .