Based on that other thread, where it turned out that Indinero stole Shopify's layout and copied it, pretty much, verbatim.
I was wondering if anyone else "borrowed" things(CSS, design elements, some javascript etc) in the past?
Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
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Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#2Let's turn that around, have you ever done anything at all that you thought was truly original ?
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#3Let's turn that around, have you ever done anything at all that you thought was truly original ?
well by original I mean, you wrote everything yourself. Sure you may have consulted other people for ideas, code samples, but you didn't just go to a site you liked, went into source, and copy pasted into your code
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#4By 'borrow' does that mean to use the code etc to get something working then eventually re write those particular pieces yourself in a similar way that freebsd did or can they be kept for eternity.
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#5Let's turn that around, have you ever done anything at all that you thought was truly original ?
well by original I mean, you wrote everything yourself. Sure you may have consulted other people for ideas, code samples, but you didn't just go to a site you liked, went into source, and copy pasted into your code
I voted yes for open source web site design, but those days are behind me.
I think he could have been referring to the copy-and-paste project mentality, where you learn just enough to copy and paste chunks of code and alter it until it works.
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#6"Borrowing" is essential for communication. We're using words right here that other people (well, civilizations) have standardized. At a certain level of granularity, all content is borrowed.
A more useful question might be, "what's the largest proportion of a work you have ever borrowed?"
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#7Let's turn that around, have you ever done anything at all that you thought was truly original ?
well by original I mean, you wrote everything yourself. Sure you may have consulted other people for ideas, code samples, but you didn't just go to a site you liked, went into source, and copy pasted into your code
In trying to make it sound "less bad" you've confused what the real question is. It should have been "Have you every exploited the fact that something is publicly available for your own gain?" Take any design pattern (code design pattern). Now, there will be several variants on how to code it, but there will be millions of instances of nearly identical implementations, at least half of which started as a copy-paste (or type it nearly exactly the same from repetition, or copy paste from an earlier project, or reuse a file). To "borrow" in the term you describe, I could look at a site, and code something myself that looks exactly the same way, and it not be considered borrowing. However, it's still "taking" it.
Think of it like this...every single piece of code can be reduced down to a specialized chip that performs the same function. Did you create a chip that did exactly the same thing intentionally, or did you create a chip that did something different, or did you plug in their chip?
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#8Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal
Steve Jobs
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#9There's a huge difference between copying some CSS and ripping an entire design. In the programming world, it's the difference between copying a C header file to do bit manipulation and stealing an entire program.
Re: Poll: Have you ever "borrowed" other people's code/layout etc?
#10Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal Steve Jobs
That's much older than Steve Jobs. Igor Stravinsky said the same, and I'm pretty sure it's much older than him.