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edit approved Apr 11, 2012 at 11:54
Merlyn Morgan-Graham
edit approved Apr 11, 2012 at 11:54
Merlyn Morgan-Graham
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An ethical question about answering SO programming questions Is it unethical to post code in answers without citing sources?

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Flot2011
Flot2011
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Sometimes, when answering SO questions, I am using in my answers the code which strictly speaking is not mine. I mean I have used this code in my applications, and often I have altered it more or less significantly, however I wasn't the author of the code, usually I found it somewhere on the Net.

So the question is: should I mention this fact in my answer? And, if I remember where the code came from, should I just refer the user to this site?

From one side I feel like giving an answer with code in place is much more helpful than just giving a link, however from another side I feel like "stealing" the credit.

EDIT: I am not speaking about the code taken from the open source projects or sites like CodeProject, where it is very clear where the credit goes, I am speaking about code snippets and solutions found on forums or sites like SO.

For example, OP asks how to add some functionality to his/her program, and there is a very specific API for doing so, does it matter that I came across this API on a site that is not Microsoft/Apple/Adobe etc. itself?

Sometimes, when answering SO questions, I am using in my answers the code which strictly speaking is not mine. I mean I have used this code in my applications, and often I have altered it more or less significantly, however I wasn't the author of the code, usually I found it somewhere on the Net.

So the question is: should I mention this fact in my answer? And, if I remember where the code came from, should I just refer the user to this site?

From one side I feel like giving an answer with code in place is much more helpful than just giving a link, however from another side I feel like "stealing" the credit.

Sometimes, when answering SO questions, I am using in my answers the code which strictly speaking is not mine. I mean I have used this code in my applications, and often I have altered it more or less significantly, however I wasn't the author of the code, usually I found it somewhere on the Net.

So the question is: should I mention this fact in my answer? And, if I remember where the code came from, should I just refer the user to this site?

From one side I feel like giving an answer with code in place is much more helpful than just giving a link, however from another side I feel like "stealing" the credit.

EDIT: I am not speaking about the code taken from the open source projects or sites like CodeProject, where it is very clear where the credit goes, I am speaking about code snippets and solutions found on forums or sites like SO.

For example, OP asks how to add some functionality to his/her program, and there is a very specific API for doing so, does it matter that I came across this API on a site that is not Microsoft/Apple/Adobe etc. itself?

Source Link
Flot2011
Flot2011
  • 231
  • 1
  • 8

An ethical question about answering SO programming questions

Sometimes, when answering SO questions, I am using in my answers the code which strictly speaking is not mine. I mean I have used this code in my applications, and often I have altered it more or less significantly, however I wasn't the author of the code, usually I found it somewhere on the Net.

So the question is: should I mention this fact in my answer? And, if I remember where the code came from, should I just refer the user to this site?

From one side I feel like giving an answer with code in place is much more helpful than just giving a link, however from another side I feel like "stealing" the credit.