4 ms·

The best programmers copy from different sites, combining their code in a way to make it distinct and unique. Do you see why this is inaccurate?

omarchowdhury 15y ago
You are comparing apples to cantaloupes here. He's talking about imitating or drawing inspiration from other websites for the visual elements of a particular website. Everyone does this.
- ahoyhere 15y ago
  Oh, is there a button in Photoshop that helps you "draw inspiration"? Or can that happen without Photoshop or any design tool whatsoever? It is the exact same thing.
  - omarchowdhury 15y ago
    No it isn't. You can look at a visual element or style on another website and mimic it for your own. You can't look at, say, Facebook and determine the exact code structure and replicate that.
    - ahoyhere 15y ago
      Visual style != design. End of story.
      - AznHisoka 15y ago
        Please, stop trying to make your specialty some special voodoo that only gifted, special people will know about. It's a commodity.
        ahoyhere 15y ago
        Ah, it only chafes when I apply your statements back to you about your profession. I see. Point of fact: I started as a visual designer when I was a teenager. Then I learned PHP, then Ruby, then JavaScript, off which I made lots and lots of money and no little fame. Then I got really interested in the way software WORKED and turned into an interface designer. Who designs and develops her own shit. Now I make and sell products directly to people who use them, nobody will "hire" me for anything ever again. What is my profession exactly, that I am preciously trying to protect?
  - AznHisoka 15y ago
    No it isn't. And even good programmers do "copy" certain elements (programming style, idioms, design patterns) from good code they see. It's like reading code is such a great way to be a good programmer.
chc 15y ago
This is actually kind of close to the truth, though not as phrased. The best programmers do indeed crib cool ideas they find in other people's work and combine them in original ways. Of course, "website" is not a useful unit of programming information like it is for web design, but if you replace it with equivalent terms like "programs" and "academic research," then you're not too far off. Disclaimer: I actually do agree with Amy's point that randomly stealing design elements without understanding is like copy-pasting code from Experts Exchange. But imitating and remixing is such a time-honored tradition among artists that I hate to see it painted with such a broad brush. There's good stealing and there's bad stealing, and it mostly has to do with how intelligently you do it.

omarchowdhury 15y ago

You are comparing apples to cantaloupes here. He's talking about imitating or drawing inspiration from other websites for the visual elements of a particular website. Everyone does this.

ahoyhere 15y ago
Oh, is there a button in Photoshop that helps you "draw inspiration"? Or can that happen without Photoshop or any design tool whatsoever? It is the exact same thing.
- omarchowdhury 15y ago
  No it isn't. You can look at a visual element or style on another website and mimic it for your own. You can't look at, say, Facebook and determine the exact code structure and replicate that.
  - ahoyhere 15y ago
    Visual style != design. End of story.
    - AznHisoka 15y ago
      Please, stop trying to make your specialty some special voodoo that only gifted, special people will know about. It's a commodity.
      - ahoyhere 15y ago
        Ah, it only chafes when I apply your statements back to you about your profession. I see. Point of fact: I started as a visual designer when I was a teenager. Then I learned PHP, then Ruby, then JavaScript, off which I made lots and lots of money and no little fame. Then I got really interested in the way software WORKED and turned into an interface designer. Who designs and develops her own shit. Now I make and sell products directly to people who use them, nobody will "hire" me for anything ever again. What is my profession exactly, that I am preciously trying to protect?
- AznHisoka 15y ago
  No it isn't. And even good programmers do "copy" certain elements (programming style, idioms, design patterns) from good code they see. It's like reading code is such a great way to be a good programmer.

chc 15y ago

This is actually kind of close to the truth, though not as phrased. The best programmers do indeed crib cool ideas they find in other people's work and combine them in original ways. Of course, "website" is not a useful unit of programming information like it is for web design, but if you replace it with equivalent terms like "programs" and "academic research," then you're not too far off. Disclaimer: I actually do agree with Amy's point that randomly stealing design elements without understanding is like copy-pasting code from Experts Exchange. But imitating and remixing is such a time-honored tradition among artists that I hate to see it painted with such a broad brush. There's good stealing and there's bad stealing, and it mostly has to do with how intelligently you do it.