4 ms·

Not poster but in a similar position myself. What about incomplete projects? Messy/hacky experiments? Completely idiotic/backwards stuff done for fun? Play-pro

Not poster but in a similar position myself. What about incomplete projects? Messy/hacky experiments? Completely idiotic/backwards stuff done for fun? Play-projects purely attempted for "ha I did it!"? Legally-grey (or blatantly illegal) projects? Or even school projects? I have hundreds of projects that fit in those categories, and none will ever be made publicly available. Sometimes it's just not good form to make a project public, other times it's clearly harmful to do so. Nevertheless, I preserve my projects privately just in case I ever resume work on a whim, or want to reference what I did in the past (or more likely, what I did wrong). And now I can put them online privately for free, sharing with those I deem appropriate.

vog 15y ago
> incomplete projects? It depends on what you mean by "incomplete". 50 lines of code which do almost nothing useful are probably not worth publishing. But why not publishing a half-complete project? Publishing may help you find contributors. And the early feedback helps you to decide if your project is worth more intense attention. > Messy/hacky experiments? If the code is not too bad, I publish even that stuff (as long as it is big enough to be notable), e.g. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/vserver http://pypi.python.org/pypi/vserver > Completely idiotic/backwards stuff done for fun? I recently published such a project and got surprisingly great feedback: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3061050 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3061050 > Play-projects purely attempted for "ha I did it!"? Why not? You never know who'll like it anyway, e.g. http://sourceforge.net/projects/hosh/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/hosh/ > Legally-grey (or blatantly illegal) projects? Depending on how much trouble this might cause, you probably shouldn't upload it anywhere. Even a "private" repository on GitHub/BitBucket might be too risky. On the other hand, I know about a Free Software clone of a game that used the original graphics and music. Not quite legal, but the game was very old and the right holders obviously didn't care. However, after publishing the project got a little fan base that eventually included graphic designers and musicians, who replaced the proprietary stuff step by step with their own creations. So the game changed from "legally-grey" to "solid free". This would never have been possible if the game hadn't been published. > Or even school projects? My school projects were about the first ones I published, and I'm pretty proud about what I wrote in that age, e.g. http://davis.sf.net/ http://davis.sf.net/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/voji/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/voji/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/volt/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/volt/ Later I also published some notable university project works (sorry, German language): http://www.profv.de/uni/ http://www.profv.de/uni/ However, these are only project works. I will never publish specific solutions to homework excercises, as this would only help cheaters and nobody else.
- flexd 15y ago
  > However, these are only project works. I will never publish specific solutions to homework excercises, as this would only help cheaters and nobody else. Which is why (lite) private repoes would be nice. I wouldn't want to hand out all the answers to my school assignments but I'd still like to keep them tracked with git (depending on the size). At the moment I've just put my coding folder inside Dropbox which in a way acts like version control (in the sense that I won't lose the code.
- chops 15y ago
  On the other hand, I know about a Free Software clone of a game that used the original graphics and music. Not quite legal, but the game was very old and the right holders obviously didn't care. However, after publishing the project got a little fan base that eventually included graphic designers and musicians, who replaced the proprietary stuff step by step with their own creations. So the game changed from "legally-grey" to "solid free". This would never have been possible if the game hadn't been published. I voted you up specifically for this bit. This is great. What game was cloned, and what is the name of the clone?
  - nknight 15y ago
    Sounds an awful lot like he's talking about OpenTTD, a "clone" of Transport Tycoon Deluxe that has some "interesting" history even aside from the media assets.
- greengarstudios 15y ago
  what's the Free Software clone of a game?
  - vog 15y ago
    This term means that a proprietary game has been rewritten completely from scratch as a Free Software project. Usually, the game principle stays the same, but has its own codebase, and different graphics and music. Sometimes names are changed, too, if the original names were trademarked. After some time, the Free Software clones usually surpass the original game in almost every aspect. This is a great way for a fan community to push forward their favorite game long after the producers lost their (commercial) interest in it. This is also some kind of sustainability, as it ensures the game won't die with the hardware it was produced for.

vog 15y ago

> incomplete projects? It depends on what you mean by "incomplete". 50 lines of code which do almost nothing useful are probably not worth publishing. But why not publishing a half-complete project? Publishing may help you find contributors. And the early feedback helps you to decide if your project is worth more intense attention. > Messy/hacky experiments? If the code is not too bad, I publish even that stuff (as long as it is big enough to be notable), e.g. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/vserver http://pypi.python.org/pypi/vserver > Completely idiotic/backwards stuff done for fun? I recently published such a project and got surprisingly great feedback: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3061050 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3061050 > Play-projects purely attempted for "ha I did it!"? Why not? You never know who'll like it anyway, e.g. http://sourceforge.net/projects/hosh/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/hosh/ > Legally-grey (or blatantly illegal) projects? Depending on how much trouble this might cause, you probably shouldn't upload it anywhere. Even a "private" repository on GitHub/BitBucket might be too risky. On the other hand, I know about a Free Software clone of a game that used the original graphics and music. Not quite legal, but the game was very old and the right holders obviously didn't care. However, after publishing the project got a little fan base that eventually included graphic designers and musicians, who replaced the proprietary stuff step by step with their own creations. So the game changed from "legally-grey" to "solid free". This would never have been possible if the game hadn't been published. > Or even school projects? My school projects were about the first ones I published, and I'm pretty proud about what I wrote in that age, e.g. http://davis.sf.net/ http://davis.sf.net/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/voji/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/voji/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/volt/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/volt/ Later I also published some notable university project works (sorry, German language): http://www.profv.de/uni/ http://www.profv.de/uni/ However, these are only project works. I will never publish specific solutions to homework excercises, as this would only help cheaters and nobody else.

flexd 15y ago
> However, these are only project works. I will never publish specific solutions to homework excercises, as this would only help cheaters and nobody else. Which is why (lite) private repoes would be nice. I wouldn't want to hand out all the answers to my school assignments but I'd still like to keep them tracked with git (depending on the size). At the moment I've just put my coding folder inside Dropbox which in a way acts like version control (in the sense that I won't lose the code.
chops 15y ago
On the other hand, I know about a Free Software clone of a game that used the original graphics and music. Not quite legal, but the game was very old and the right holders obviously didn't care. However, after publishing the project got a little fan base that eventually included graphic designers and musicians, who replaced the proprietary stuff step by step with their own creations. So the game changed from "legally-grey" to "solid free". This would never have been possible if the game hadn't been published. I voted you up specifically for this bit. This is great. What game was cloned, and what is the name of the clone?
- nknight 15y ago
  Sounds an awful lot like he's talking about OpenTTD, a "clone" of Transport Tycoon Deluxe that has some "interesting" history even aside from the media assets.
greengarstudios 15y ago
what's the Free Software clone of a game?
- vog 15y ago
  This term means that a proprietary game has been rewritten completely from scratch as a Free Software project. Usually, the game principle stays the same, but has its own codebase, and different graphics and music. Sometimes names are changed, too, if the original names were trademarked. After some time, the Free Software clones usually surpass the original game in almost every aspect. This is a great way for a fan community to push forward their favorite game long after the producers lost their (commercial) interest in it. This is also some kind of sustainability, as it ensures the game won't die with the hardware it was produced for.