Why Obfuscate

I’ve heard some people boast about writing obfuscated code and I wondered why they’d even spend their time doing such a thing. To me it seems nothing more than an egotistical endeavor of deliberately making something confusing to others. Since I intend for my code to be understood by others I wouldn’t want to invoke the opposite.

And in comparison, doesn’t it require more skill to construct a program that works well, has a beautiful structure, and comprehensible code? I think so. But in some cases you might not want others to be able to comprehend or modify your code, such as if you’re selling a killer JavaScript application.

Obfuscation can also help create smaller code: there won’t be much left after you do away with the scaffolding that normally makes code organized and extensible.