Thinking about the code snippet I used without permission years ago

When I first learned programming, online forums were my main help. I found a perfect function for my project and copied it without asking. It worked great, but I always wondered if I should have credited the writer. Back then, rules were fuzzy for beginners like me. Now, with clearer open source guides, I see how my old move was a bit shady.

2 comments

2 Comments

rubybarnes4d ago

My entire first project was basically a stolen code collage, a real Frankenstein's monster of other people's work (shout out to the anonymous forum user from 2008 whose login logic I absolutely nabbed). The rules felt like a mystery back then, like some secret club handbook we never got. These days I look at my old repos and just cringe, it's a miracle nothing caught fire. At least now we have those licenses spelled out, even if reading them still makes my eyes glaze over.

sanchez.holly4d ago

Totally get that. My old uni group project had this one function we all just copied from a blog, and the TA never even noticed. Kinda wild how common that was before everything got so formal.