Comments on: Source Control (plagirism) in Education

By: JC

JC — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:47:10 +0000

Nice article,

I teach in a foreign university, wich turn the plagiarism easier to catch, as we don’t use english as Native Language, it’s very common to catch people using someone else’s work for the final game project implementation. This is simply sad.

I don’t understand why you cheat at school, as it’s the place where you go to learn, and it’s your chance to be wrong on your implementations. Even though you have the social pressure of do well and pass everything above average, if you don’t understand, ASK! don’t cheat… That’s why I tell my students that it’s ok to be wrong as it’s the only way you learn, and I try to have as much reviews as they want so I can actually teach them.

By: momop

momop — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:40:55 +0000

i dont know if this will work but ill try
[quote="Tony"]This one time someone tried to hand in my code as their own.. together with all the comments, including “Tony’s Game” in the application’s title bar.[/quote]

this is a very smart idea to put one’s name in the title bar for projects

many who plagerys(however its spelt) dont go through the code and will easily get caught

By: wtd

wtd — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 16:51:06 +0000

There’s nothing wrong with copying someone else’s code and handing it in, in my opinion. That is, assuming you understand and can explain what it does and how it does it. That would constitute learning.

By: Bob Zeidman

Bob Zeidman — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:10:02 +0000

The question about what is plagiarism is a really good one. Even the computer scientists who are studying it have failed to define it. My program, CodeMatch(TM), finds correlation” rather than “plagiarism.” I’ve defined correlation fairly precisely in a paper I gave at an IEEE conference. I’m working on another paper that precisely defines “plagiarism” in terms of “correlation.” I’ve already used the definition in several software copyright infringement cases. If anyone wants a copy of my paper or these definitions, feel free to contact me at Bob@ZeidmanConsulting.com.

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 05:48:28 +0000

Well it's the idea of Patents vs. Copyright. Do you protect the idea, or the way of expressing this idea? Thought you've got to pick just one. And while Intellectual Propery in Computer Science is a _huge_ topic, for the purposes in the context of plagiarism and student assignment - I would allow for anything that the student writes on one own, and can explain the concepts involved.

By: compsci

compsci — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:30:31 +0000

I have personally never copied code to claim as my own. However, a question that would be brought up with this peticular topic would be to define plagarism. In subjects like computer science, the definition of plagarism is a bit more blurred than most. People will claim “inspiration ” from somthing. And although the code looks different, the act is still very most plagarism

By: Adam aka Windsurfer

Adam aka Windsurfer — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 03:53:52 +0000

Wow, i must say, this is an excellent blog post. Reading this has actually made me feel more secure about posting my source code.
What i gather is this: if someone is too lazy to write out a simple program themselves, then they will inevitably be caught. And that makes me feel like justice is being served.
But what I’m curious is… well… what do you think of my code? http://www.compsci.ca/v2/viewtopic.php?t=13809

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 01:35:28 +0000

Thank you for your input guys! It really just shows that handing in code you don’t understand is equivalent of handing in an essay written in Latin.

This one time someone tried to hand in my code as their own.. together with all the comments, including “Tony’s Game” in the application’s title bar.

By: Freakman

Freakman — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:18:34 +0000

I myself have never cheated in compsci, but there were a couple people in my Grade 10 class that did. Needless to say they got caught pretty easily as they had no idea what on earth the code meant.

By: ZeroPaladn

ZeroPaladn — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:59:12 +0000

So true. Someone im my grade 11 compsci class handed in a racing game for his FP, and when his teacher asked him to explain some of the advanced concepts in the program (acceleration and shifting algorithms, Draw.Arc, ect.) he got busted and asked to make somethign of his own creation. he never showed up for the rest of the year :\