I think whatever feature in my browser lets websites determine when I copy text should be ripped out, along with the site's ability to snoop on my scroll position.
The sandbox has been broken.
How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
31–40 of 243 posts
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#32Don't paste from stackoverflow and do not hire people who paste from stackoverflow or anywhere online. This is literally how software is compromised. I worked with people at another company who had compromised a small part of Google and several banks this way. They contacted the security department later but they were surprised by the number of companies they were able to compromise just by posting instructions onlin…
> Don't paste from stackoverflow and do not hire people who paste from stackoverflow or anywhere online
Crucial corollary: "... that you don't understand".
Blindly copy/pasting what you don't understand is the problem. If it's too complex to analyze, it doesn't belong in Stack Overflow.
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#33Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#34One of the interview questions I ask is, "if you run in a problem you can't solve, where do you go online to find answers?" Anyone that doesn't answer Stack Overflow is - in my opinion - either lying or very, very new to the industry. (This is for .Net/C# jobs so maybe it's different for other languages.)
I've been in this industry around 20 years and I can't remember the last time I looked at SO to answer one of my own questions. Other people's, sure, but usually I look at the source code for answers to my questions.
The results are more consistent.
Now Github Issues on the other hand...
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#35Ha! Joke's on them. I type it out so it makes it look like I'm doing more work. (But in all seriousness, I normally do type it out, so it forces me to remember what I'm using better.)
Right? Who is literally copy/pasting, that seems dangerous.
I'd describe it as learning the concept/tactic/technique from the SO answer, and if me then implementing that concept/tactic/technique in my own code just so happens to look the same as the provided example, that's fine.
Frequently it doesn't, either!
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#36Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#37I'd be curious at the length distribution. I tend to copy search terms (LongJavaClassNameThingy) to find some separate documentation.
I assume what's going on with the subset of high rep people that do a lot of copying is they're doing searches for duplicate posts.
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#38I think copy and pasting code is very useful for a junior developer and nothing to be ashamed of. You will learn by debugging and modifying it.
As a more senior person, I rarely do copy whole snippets. I will look for general inspiration or to confirm my idea and check if there is a better solution. I wont blatantly copy as it rarely fits into my architecture and code style so it is faster to just directly write it how I need it.
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#39One of the interview questions I ask is, "if you run in a problem you can't solve, where do you go online to find answers?" Anyone that doesn't answer Stack Overflow is - in my opinion - either lying or very, very new to the industry. (This is for .Net/C# jobs so maybe it's different for other languages.)
1. web search (google/bing/ddg) - often that will lead to SO, but also turn up some other relevant forums.
2. docs on package X. If I'm reasonably certain a problem is with a specific package, I'll search for a forum or issue tracker (often GitHub) for that package.
3. language-specific community. there are some lang-spec sites/forums that help with the nitty-gritty sometimes that SO and similar sites don't always get (or, more often, SO is out of date but still marked 'best').
That SO often tends to be where you end up doesn't, imo, mean you should always start there. If the same SO links are at the top of many search engines, that's probably a very good indicator, but you almost always need to broaden out when researching.
Re: How often do people copy and paste from Stack Overflow?
#40One of the interview questions I ask is, "if you run in a problem you can't solve, where do you go online to find answers?" Anyone that doesn't answer Stack Overflow is - in my opinion - either lying or very, very new to the industry. (This is for .Net/C# jobs so maybe it's different for other languages.)
Why would I go to Stack Overflow? If it has any decent answers, they'll be right at the top of Google (or whatever) search results. If it doesn't, I just saved myself the need to do a second search.