Only for very special algorithm protection.

Not as general source code protection.

Arne

What does it matter? Do you think your code is so clever that a reasonably
competent person could not reverse engineer it?

Any program, compiled into object code for any processor, can be decompiled
into something a competent person can usefully understand. Yes, Java is a
bit easier than some. But when you want to reverse engineer something you
don't usually start by decompiling it anyway; you usually treat it as a
black box and look at its inputs and outputs.

There's nothing you can write which is so clever that it needs special
protection.

No, I think it's puerile and stupid.

I wouldn't say so myself.  Not unless there is some other benefit from writing
the core in a different language.  (For instance, you may need a more
expressive language than Java, or you might need a class of optimisations that
aren't available in Java, or need OS-specific code, or you may want to package
and sell your code as ActiveX components as well as Java components).

Perhaps compiling and delivering with Excelsior JET would fit your
requirements.

   -- chris