The Value of Source Code

Dharmesh Shah writes about how Code Is Not A Commodity

How does the market value the code itself? What would people pay? Chances are, if the code is separated from its creators, its value goes down dramatically. The reason is simple. Code and its creators are inextricably intertwined. The people that created the code are the ones that can best leverage it to create future value.

I think that this is really poignant; I know that having the person who wrote the code around is always invaluable when you need to do things with it. He also makes a very important point that I like a lot about the importance of the design and its link with the designers...

Software development is often a series of tradeoffs and those developers that succeed over the long-term are the ones that understand the subtleties of the trade-offs and tend to make better choices for their given situation than their peers. What makes a great programmer is not just picking the right tools, but in understanding the tradeoffs and making the right choices.