Open source programming software has gained popularity over time. Furthermore, it has been a long debate over which one is preferred – proprietary programming languages or open-source programming languages? Of course, there are pros and cons of programming languages, whether it is open source or non-open source programming languages. In this blog, we will dig into the pros and cons of open-source programming languages.
Now, what do we mean by open-source programming languages? Technically, the source code of open-source programming software is available to the public free of cost. Furthermore, they can modify it from its original design provided some conditions are fulfilled. I have detailed information on open-source programming in my earlier blog - What is Open Source Programming? Basically, open-source programming language development is not a singular effort; instead, they are developed utilizing combined effort where multiple sharing and improvement of code happen simultaneously.
The main goal of open source programming languages is to bring the maximum useful product as open-source programming software to the public. Here is a list of open-source programming languages' popularity charts ( Though Java is now not an open-source language known as Oracle Java).
What are the features of an open-source programming language?
Before we discuss the pros and cons of open-source programming languages, let's have a look at their features, which might highlight some of the pros and cons of open-source software.
Free of cost distribution: As opposed to proprietary programming languages, the open-source programming language is not restricted to any particular ownership. So, the distribution of the software source code or even redistribution of its components as an assembly of distribution is free of cost.
Modifiable Source code: Open source programming languages include its source code or some means to the source code to modify or customize it as per requirement. Also, the source code must come in a preferred form as per the user's choice. Hence, unintelligible source code is not a goal of open-source software distribution.
Derived works: Open source programming languages must be used to make any changes. Besides, under the same terms and conditions, those changes can be distributed like the original programming language.
Distribution of license: Every distribution of license of open source software attaches the community's rights to whom it is distributed. This needs no additional execution of additional rights by those communities.
Free of discrimination: Open source programming languages should not discriminate against any community or person. Similarly, Open source programming languages must not restrict anyone to use the software in a specific field of effort.
No specific license to the product: Open source programming software must not depend on the open-source programming languages' rights. Suppose an open-source software is extracted from distribution and used with the terms of its license, then there is no need for an extra license.
No restriction due to the license mentioned: The open-source programming languages do not place restrictions on other programming languages that are part of distributing the licensed programming languages.
The license remains technology-neutral: It is open source, so the open-source programming languages keep no provision to be any technology-specific or predicate any individual technology.
The pros of open source programming languages
Open-source software is free or cheaper than Commercial Products
In open-source programming software, there is no need to track the licensing compliance or terms and conditions. The software can be used repeatedly and can be deployed in multiple machines without the hassle of licensing. This saves time, and money for companies as the software is ready to use as a whole. Moreover, these open-source programming software come in different forms like plugins, front end interface supporting any platforms. This, in other terms, saves hardware life and cost as there is no need to replace them repeatedly with the change of software. Besides, software developed using open source programming languages saves a huge cost and effort of the Software development lifecycle as you easily can escape the three stages- testing, debugging, and integration of software as it is already done for you. This is especially beneficial for software development product development companies.
Highly Reliable
Developed by a group of talented and skillful programmers, open-source programming languages always keep a space for continuous development. As the open-source programming software is not developed for profit, and it's a gesture of hundreds of volunteers' love for coding to a community, so most of this software is high-quality programs. Additionally, as anyone can access the source code, they can fix the bug as needed and add features every now and then. Simultaneously, as there is no licensing hassle, the open-source software can be customized if needed for business requirements. Isn't it beneficial for software development companies?
Easy bug fixing
Open source programming languages are eligible for constant peer review. Hence, the members can easily find and fix the bugs present in the source code. It is a collaboration of users from different countries and programming backgrounds. This is a complete reverse feature of non-open source programming language developed for commercial purposes, and only the developers can change the original piece of code.
Multi-language support
Open source programming languages allow the multi-language translation of the source code. However, in the case of proprietary programming languages, the software developers don’t always allow that.
The Cons of open source software
Versioning issue
As anyone can make changes in open source programming software, it becomes confusing to understand the source code version. On the contrary, for a proprietary programming language, the developers clearly mention the version with every change of the source code.
Not always easy to understand
Though expert programmers develop open-source programming languages, it may not be easy for everyone to understand the code if some changes are made without proper code commenting. Finally, it becomes extremely confusing to unravel those messy lines of code.
Lack of support
This is a big difference between open source programming languages and proprietary programming languages. Sometimes it becomes difficult to get proper support for some problems in open source programming languages. It is possible that community developers do not have a solution to that specific problem. However, for licensed languages, there is full support from developers.
Not User-Friendly GUI
Though not applicable for all open source programming language software, but in many cases, it has been noticed that although the software itself is high-speed and solves many critical problems, its GUI is not as user friendly as commercial software. This makes the software annoying to work especially if you are not a technical gig. So, if the open-source programming software is being used in a non-technical company, they need a dedicated trained team to solve this problem.
Final verdict
Thus, we can conclude from the above discussion that it is difficult to choose whether we should go for open source programming languages or proprietary language. As both of them as their own pros and cons and we can't do weightage based on that. Though it may seem that open source programming software has some inherent benefits like no licensing advantage, continuous modification scope, etc., but that does not mean licensed software is not beneficial. If we analyze the cons of open source programming language, then licensed software comes as beneficial. So, before taking the final decision, we need to analyze the points we have discussed and particular business requirements while choosing the particular category of the programming languages.