Your Opinion on Modified/borrowed code

[maboroshi]

Well being a programmer for 10 years I have come to realize that not all my code is mine. I often use to question this and so do new people to programming. So here is my opinion on borrowed code!

IMO all programmers regardless of who they are borrow and use code not written by them. This is true and can be seen in the use of libraries. Whether you borrow from a book find a neat function online the fact of the matter is code is meant to be taken from each other, hence open source!

So if you think your a n00b because you find a function on the internet and use it in your app imo the fact that you recognized that function means your definitely learning

So in conclusion is it wrong to borrow code from each other?

Lets hear Your opinions

P.S This was brought up in IRC thought I would make a discussion of it

[computathug]

Well if you think about it code is borrowed who ever writes it, unless you invent a new language yourself to code from. The only difference would be the way it is written, and the way we manipulate the code to make it do what we want. If it was not possible to borrow or change code so to speak then a lot of companies would not be as up to date with technology as they are, and would not be able to survive or grow to what they are today. I am going to use Cobol as an example as yes it is quite old and number 2, you would be quite surprised how much it is still used today. While at university we learned how to program a pc so it could run solely the programs and database that was written for that specific company or so it could be manipulated to target certain industries. If we kept everything for ourselves the world would not evolve into any thing better. If companies have to change with the times so does the technology. In 2 years time the program needs adapting to new ideas etc, what would happen if the employee who wrote the program parted company. To write a new program for a small company in cobol can take a few years how long to make the app for a major company....

By sharing we can find new ways of making things better hence the words clean code and dirty code. If i wrote a program that is to be used then i would like to think that it was my basic idea to which others have participated and adapted for the future. Nothing lasts for ever but with help can live longer. If we were all to know that that a Suck-o community was still running after 100 years even long after we are all gone because they had the knowledge that was passed down and the next generation adapt it to the new era of the latest technology. Think of it like this, Suck-o was b_b's project, he started this community and its going good, something to be proud of in itself. We also have something to be proud of. Its people that make a community not just a person. As the saying 'no man is an island'. He is the root of our tree and we are the branches and hopefully new seedlings will come along. The food chain may change in future times so we pass or knowledge on so the new seedlings survive. Its a bit like having a child. You want them to know what you know only more and better.

So back to the point yeah i think its good to share code....well maybe save some for the people who are in the know.

You Know Who You Are!

[pseudo_opcode]

even the printf and scanf functions you use all the time in C are not yours, you're using someone else's code.

It happens with every programming language,if you use code in your app, that's doesnt mean you're an skiddie, you want your computer to get the work done the correct and most efficient way, and you should use the fastest way.
Thats smart thing to do. Perfectly okay!!!

[Gogeta70]

The only time i remember using someone else's code is when i'm learning. That way, i can tweak and modify it to get better understanding of it. Aside from the default libraries that come with programming languages, such as "cout" in C++, i don't believe i've ever borrowed code on a program i've developed of my own, simply because i have a strong belief against using another's code before i understand the concept of trying to do it myself.

As for the general population of programmers using other's code, i believe it's ok as long as you completely understand how the code works, and if you didn't have that code, you could recreate that code yourself. So yeah, it's perfectly fine by me.

[CommonStray]

open source

[penumbra_wolf]

open source

lol, short and sweet and I have to completely agree.

It's similar to history... why do we learn history? To advance as a civilization and not to make the mistakes made in our past.