Share My Creation Stolen code

klaus said:

For me there is an open question.
If I understand well bazp's post the program was stolen on the Android Marketplace and not on the forum.

@bazp / @Erel: Is this the case ?
If yes, I don't see to have any doubts on the forum member's honesty.

Best regards.

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I think the sourcecode was "stolen" from here.. do a search on his name, and you will find some sourcecode..

Else he wouldn't accuse someone here?
As i understand, he uploaded it, and then made a search for his own app.. and found two of them..

I think micromanaging by user request and only supplying portions of code runs completely counter-intuitive to what these forums are about and makes the process that much more of a headache. At that point, it's easier to suffer through your own trial and error.

To *me*, if I were the one running into this trouble, I would, instead, just wait ample time after the completion of the project, post the project on the marketplace, reap some monetary benefit from my own work, THEN publish the source code here. That kills 2 birds with one stone... it gives ME the authenticity of an established audit trail leading back to myself as the author, as well as the financial benefit.

Likely this was some kid or lazy petty person who saw it as a fast buck or 2....but I clearly would not allow one thing...that is, I would not allow it to ruin what WE have here, a great community.

TomK said:

I think micromanaging by user request and only supplying portions of code runs completely counter-intuitive to what these forums are about and makes the process that much more of a headache. At that point, it's easier to suffer through your own trial and error.

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My current project (a Spades game) is already over 6000 lines and 100 subs and I'm only about a half to 2/3rds done. All but a very small percentage of those Subs are algorithms specific to writing a Spades game and as such, would be of no use nor interest to anyone who is NOT writing a Spades game.

I've already uploaded a small app (Card Game Shell) which contains the code which *could* be useful to anyone writing any kind of card game, including routines for shuffling, dealing, selecting cards to play, and displaying hands.

If you wanted to write a card game and chose to "suffer through your own trial and error" rather than use the routines in Card Game Shell simply because I didn't include the other 99% of the code specifically for writing Spades games, then that's up to you, but that would seem like a silly choice to me.

nfordbscndrd said:

but that would seem like a silly choice to me.

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Yes, this was precisely my point. It surely would be.

TomK said:

Yes, this was precisely my point. It surely would be.

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My point was that it is easier for the others here if the original programmer only uploads the generally useful parts of his code instead of the whole thing, which is what I thought you were calling "micromanaging".

At the same time, NOT uploading the entire code protects the programmer from theft and protects users from having someone steal a program's entire code and turn it into malware.

nfordbscndrd said:

My point was that it is easier for the others here if the original programmer only uploads the generally useful parts of his code instead of the whole thing, which is what I thought you were calling "micromanaging".

At the same time, NOT uploading the entire code protects the programmer from theft and protects users from having someone steal a program's entire code and turn it into malware.

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Well, the thing is, often, from a learning standpoint, if you're trying to garner how one piece of code is operational with another and can't quite grasp it, BUT you can see it operational from another persons WORKING project, then you can see where it is you're missing something.

Hence, if you're stuck on a project and can't move forward but know someone else already has but they only deliver the "safe" portions of code here, you may as well "suffer through your own trial and errors" as, those portions you deem "safe" may not be at all helpful to resolve their stumbling block.

TomK said:

If you're stuck on a project and can't move forward but know someone else already has but they only deliver the "safe" portions of code here, you may as well "suffer through your own trial and errors" as, those portions you deem "safe" may not be at all helpful to resolve their stumbling block.

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I'm not sure where you are getting "safe" from. What I said was "useful". If a person is having trouble writing a particular task or UI, it is certainly easier for him to just be given the sub(s) related to that specific task than to provide 100+ subs from which he would have to try to pick the relevant code.

Say that you wanted to write a game of Go Fish but didn't want to reinvent the wheel for shuffling, dealing and displaying the cards. I would be happy to provide ALL the code realted to those routines and, in fact, already have. If the other 95% of my code is strictly algorithms for playing Spades, they would be completely useless to you.

Well, I'm not sure why you are arguing the point, but I'm not going to argue a point that is not applicable to me, I have no trouble with the coding aspect, I simply gave my opinion and stance on it is all.

I'm also not trying to talk you into taking a particular position on it, handle it any way you like

TomK said:

Well, I'm not sure why you are arguing the point...

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Uh, for the same reason you are? But mostly because your previous two posts misquoted me and I was just trying to clear the record.

...I simply gave my opinion and stance on it is all. I'm not trying to talk you into taking a particular position on it, handle it any way you like.

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Your original statement: "micromanaging by user request and only supplying portions of code runs completely counter-intuitive to what these forums are about" sounds more like a harsh criticism than a simple opinion. In fact, my initial impression was "Who set this guy up as arbiter of the correct way to use these forums?", but I choked that one back (until now <grin>).

Anyway, no hard feelings.

Yea, I get the feeling I miscommunicated my feelings on it probably. What I meant was my IMPRESSION of what the forums are about and why they exist, not the absolute of what is correct. Textual communication can seomtimes be the bane of all existence lol

No, trust me, I have no hard feelings about anything.

Could it be possible for the dev of B4A to add a option in the...options to allow the ORIGINAL creator of said file to say...lock certain aspects of code to his computer/license?

Why?

Say a library developer says "Free to use, as long as you give credit"...

Now, only 1 in 3 people actually give credit.

Library dev can make a slight line of code that would magically add a "This application uses Joe's HTTP Library"....

Program dev could not edit it.



This could also be applied if someone DOES share his finished code... he could add a locked "Reference" file...that says it was made..by him/her...

Now, it wouldnt be hard to copy/paste it over to a new project, however depending on the creativity of the creator, he/she could add some "necessary" tid bits in the locked file as well... so even a copy/paste job wouldnt give the new user..a working version.

wouldn't it just be easier to just not release full source?.. If you want to show it, release a .apk signed by the arthour.
And inside the program, have credits... Who made it, and so on..

Obviously stealing the App is bad idea, and should be condemed, however you must realize that some parts of the new Apps contain (and always will) some parts of code, examples, samples etc from other Apps. The problem is not in the fact that someone's App stollen, but in the fact that there are people like this doing it. The universal law says that there are always be a thieve and the victim. It also say, the more attention you put toward the problem the more of that problem is attracted (and if you disagree, then I recommend you to watch THE SECRET).
I agree with the idea of putting official disclaimer in the example App (that the code is only for educational purposes, and cannot be used to make money). I also like the idea of embeeding some kind of logo or warning in the compiled APK, but everything else would work against the product. Example Apps, and pieces of code ia a MUST for the users community to grow. If I need to spend hours to search for something or exchanging tons of messages with the developers asking for some kind of permissions, or begging for code I would rather give up and go for some other tool.

In cases like this Erel should follow careful verification and take action if necessary, but in my opinion every App is (up to some extent) a copy of another App.

Despite cases like this one I still hope for more and more examples coming.

Arthur

aklisiewicz said:

Obviously stealing the App is bad idea, and should be condemed, however you must realize that some parts of the new Apps contain (and always will) some parts of code, examples, samples etc from other Apps. The problem is not in the fact that someone's App stollen, but in the fact that there are people like this doing it. The universal law says that there are always be a thieve and the victim. It also say, the more attention you put toward the problem the more of that problem is attracted (and if you disagree, then I recommend you to watch THE SECRET).
I agree with the idea of putting official disclaimer in the example App (that the code is only for educational purposes, and cannot be used to make money). I also like the idea of embeeding some kind of logo or warning in the compiled APK, but everything else would work against the product. Example Apps, and pieces of code ia a MUST for the users community to grow. If I need to spend hours to search for something or exchanging tons of messages with the developers asking for some kind of permissions, or begging for code I would rather give up and go for some other tool.In cases like this Erel should follow careful verification and take action if necessary, but in my opinion every App is (up to some extent) a copy of another App.

Despite cases like this one I still hope for more and more examples coming.

Arthur

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This is very off topic, but wouldn't it be a better idea to learn how to use the tool instead of constantly crowbarring snippets and examples into an app?

kickaha said:

This is very off topic, but wouldn't it be a better idea to learn how to use the tool instead of constantly crowbarring snippets and examples into an app?

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If you're able to then yes.

I tend to keep my previous code to hand and reuse parts of it as I have a memory problem which means that when I do get to grips with a way of doing something if I then don't write that code down for later use I forget how to do it within a week or so, sometimes a few days, so for me snippets and code examples are very useful.

Dave