Posting Source Code

[Windsurfer]

Hi, i recently decided to post the source code to Forces. I was wondering what people thought about me doing that... do you think posting source code (especially in turing) is a bad idea because so many people may steal it and claim it as their own? OR do you think that the benefits outweigh the good? Or do you think something else?
Vote.

[ericfourfour]

Well, posting forces isn't going to lose you money or anything. The only problem is people may download it and use it as their final project. However, I think teachers are bright enough to determine whether something is plaigurized (sp?) especially a game like forces.

This happened last year in my comp sci class. Someone downloaded hangman source code (yes, hangman... it was pathetic) and put an introduction on it and handed it in. He couldn't even explain how he did anything when he presented it. He was busted.

The funny part about the story was while he was "working" on his project (just putting a picture in with a delay) the teacher came over and asked how he did it so well. He needed to come up with a pretty witty excuse to get out of that one. So he said I (me) helped him. That didn't help because the teacher already knew I was well into my RPG.

EDIT: My opinion is you should be able to post any source code you want under any circumstances. Just watch out for cheaters.

[md]

In most cases posting source code is fine; so long as there is something which states which rights are granted, and what isn't. I think a blanket statement in compsci.ca's user agreement that states that any code posted is done so under a bsd-style license, or a CC-style license unless otherwise noted would be a good idea.

[Mazer]

md wrote:

I think a blanket statement in compsci.ca's user agreement that states that any code posted is done so under a bsd-style license, or a CC-style license unless otherwise noted would be a good idea.

Sounds good.

I think sharing source code so that others may learn is always good but I also recognize, from experience, the problems that come from people who want to get a good mark on a final project without doing work. Honour and integrity isn't enough to stop everyone and I'm sure that there are plenty of teachers who don't know about compsci.ca to catch on to that.

Hopefully the "You're way too stupid to have written this" will catch them.

[rdrake]

I'm liking the BSD-style license idea.

Quote:

Copyright (c) <YEAR>, <OWNER>
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of the <ORGANIZATION> nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

[Andy]

we could make one of those licenses, legalize it, and then make an handsome profit by suing the kids stupid enough to copy it.

we could hide a secret trademark in all the source codes posted, and inform computer science teachers from highschools about it.

[rdrake]

Andy wrote:

we could make one of those licenses, legalize it, and then make an handsome profit by suing the kids stupid enough to copy it.

we could hide a secret trademark in all the source codes posted, and inform computer science teachers from highschools about it.

Even Holtsoft will fear compsci.ca's crack team of rabid lawyers?

[md]

/me loves the BSD license for software, but an additional clause saying you must pay royalties of $1 per $1000 of profit is nice too

[Tony]

[ZeroPaladn]

dug his own grave.

on an on topic note, how would you integrate such a licence onto the source posted on this site?

[rdrake]

ZeroPaladn wrote:

dug his own grave.

on an on topic note, how would you integrate such a licence onto the source posted on this site?

Typically software packages that come in tarball form includes a LICENSE file which has that in it. Often the source files also include all or part of the license in their header.

[Tony]

I wrote a blog post on this topic.