I have a very beta but working version of my software that might be a year away from full completion and two years away from completing analyses with the software that solves a novel biological problem (hence the paper is ~2+ years away; I do not just want an application note).
If I want to create a Python package and release the code on my github, what are the risks and benefits? I can see several benefits: users, feedback, pull-requests and bugfixes. But what are the downsides? Can it hurt me in any way?
For maximum awkward, the software is just a reimplementation of an old, but widely used algorithm with a software package that is unlicensed (as far as I can see). See here for more info: Publishing improved versions of algorithms - ethics and norms.
Edit: is a license enough to protect me (force others to give me rightful credit)? From a protection viewpoint, is there no benefit in writing and publishing a preprint? I'd rather avoid the latter for now; a README.md is good enough for me.
Great answer. I would not mind more replies, especially if the viewpoint differs, however.
The only addition I can think of to this great answer is that in theory you might enable someone working on the exact same topic to get a biological analysis done faster and thereby beat you to the biological punch. Realistically speaking I don't think that's much of a concern, but you'd know how competitive your particular sub-field is better than us.
My advisor thought "beat you to the biological punch" was a very likely scenario. Will wait until analyses are well on their way.