Steal the Code
zachholman.com
Steal the Code
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Steal the Code
#2This is usually how I go about learning a new area of development. I think through the problem, get an idea of how it might work, maybe even write some code, then go spelunking on github & google to see how other people solved it.
Sometimes I'm surprised to find my method was spot on. Other times I find someone who already iterated the solution a few times and I can jump over those mistakes to a more mature solution.
Learning to read other people's code and quickly get the gist of how it works and recognizing patterns is crucial in becoming a proficient programmer.
Re: Steal the Code
#3I've found this to be an excellent method of learning patterns through different languages.
This approach only truly works if you understand what you're doing after you've 'borrowed' code. If you just blindly copy down the concepts and paste where you need them without understanding why that block works the way it does then you're not going to be up shits creek when it comes time to debugging that part of the application.
Re: Steal the Code
#4I have been doing this a lot more recently. I try to find smart programmers who run highly organized, designed, and maintained little projects and read their code, or step through it in a debugger. I am learning JS this way. I then try to use their ideas in some way or copy them to take that ownership step. Great post.
Re: Steal the Code
#5AKA "learn by example."
Re: Steal the Code
#6I posted the beginner's version of this over on the Hackety Hack blog the other day. In my mind, this is one of the greatest advantages that Open Source has to offer: the ability to learn how things work, by looking at them, taking them apart, and utilizing it in your project.
This is also why I'm a BSD (well, WTFPL...) kind of guy, over GPL. Feel free to take my code, and use it however you'd like. The thought of someone making bad software because they couldn't follow my lead due to a licensing issue makes me sad.
Re: Steal the Code
#7hammering things out on your own is great. That’s almost an entirely different class of learning, and it works well in the majority of cases.
I am deliberately taking this para out of context to point out how learning by "hammering things out" is something to be discouraged highly, especially to the young professionals. Sure, Advance work require breakthrough, but it cannot happen, unless you know/read/learn from your peers, in any field of work. Future of any field, is always based on the shoulders of the past work.
Re: Steal the Code
#8Another way to phrase this: read other people's code.
Reading code is important. Programmers should read code all the time.
Re: Steal the Code
#9I posted the beginner's version of this over on the Hackety Hack blog the other day. In my mind, this is one of the greatest advantages that Open Source has to offer: the ability to learn how things work, by looking at them, taking them apart, and utilizing it in your project. This is also why I'm a BSD (well, WTFPL...) kind of guy, over GPL. Feel free to take my code, and use it however you'd like. The thought of so…
Copying the concepts in a piece of code doesn't fall under the restrictions of copyright, so the license is irrelevant; there's no copying of the actual code involved here.
Re: Steal the Code
#10I posted the beginner's version of this over on the Hackety Hack blog the other day. In my mind, this is one of the greatest advantages that Open Source has to offer: the ability to learn how things work, by looking at them, taking them apart, and utilizing it in your project. This is also why I'm a BSD (well, WTFPL...) kind of guy, over GPL. Feel free to take my code, and use it however you'd like. The thought of so…
Copying the concepts in a piece of code doesn't fall under the restrictions of copyright, so the license is irrelevant; there's no copying of the actual code involved here.
Yeah, but there's still a reason why "clean room" implementations exist.
Regardless, I was talking about straight-up copy/paste, I should have been more clear.