Research vs plagiarism

I have realised that with google you can virtually google for all scripts we need, I am not sure whether that is research or plagiarism ....I know customizing the code is a mission at times.....plz advise

Wow interesting thought,
I would say it depends, if someone is helpful enough to share some code online then thats cool, ill use it guilt free
Where i think the line is crossed is when people reverse engineer a program or website(like cool original JavaScript that was written for a specific site)
then that's not cricket

Also seems the future is going in the direction of open source and frameworks etc sharing is caring

Also when people talk to me about plagiarism(in regard to design) I usually like to drop this little play on one of Oscars Wildes quotes

Quote
You shouldn't worry when people copy your work, you should worry when they don't

another thing i think is important, is if you are learning php and development and just mindlessly pasting code, ur shooting yourself in the foot.
The hours i have spent deciphering other peoples code is teaching me a lot, it's almost an inevitability that a beginner will use and learn from other peoples code imo

Every new developer at one stage or another comes across other developers code that they use/change to how they want it to work.

There's so many scripts out there for free ready for developers to use, the problem comes in is that you need to understand the code which takes time, you can copy and paste the code but if there's a problem later with the code and you need it fixed immediately then you in trouble.

It's much better to write your own code, it's faster you understand the code and it's a learning experience.

Idea:
What you do is, when you develop these scripts you save a copy of it somewhere in your dev environment so that later on you can use it again for a different project,
as time goes you will have a whole lot of your own scripts that you can use, you won't need to google for it

But then again there might be some developers who are like, if it's out there why build it again ( Why re-invent the wheel ? )...

student no: 77315138

Why write code that is available in the public domain? I'm trying to instill in you the value of collaboration, which is what the availability of such code is. Hopefully you will contribute as well! As long as you keep license agreements (if there are) in place, you can use what you want. Knowing how to use (and adapt) it, is a skill.

Thanks for all info guys.

I often find code and copy - paste, has become a huge friend of mine but agree with Mac.
It can usually save time which is quite precious. The task comes in when one needs to get the code working for your own program.
This is when development becomes part of our growth aspects.

Here at the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) the question has been asked: "when is it Research and when is it plagiarism?
A talk delivered by Dr Derek Keats and Anton de Wet gave their audience much to consider as they explored different perspectives on Free and open-source software (FOSS) in terms of research, innovation, business and economics.To quote Dr Keats: "Free and open-source software (FOSS) is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. This approach has gained both momentum and acceptance as the potential benefits have been increasingly recognised by both individuals and corporations. FOSS is like a catalyst – it lowers the barriers of entry to innovation,” he noted. Some examples of highly successful enterprises built on FOSS include Ubuntu, Google and Facebook.

But as Mac says:

Quote
Knowing how to use (and adapt) it, is a skill.

*- SN 77351959 -*

That's great to know Mac Helps a lot going over code that already works and adapting it. After learning what everything means I'm finding it easier to adapt and change code to suit what I need

mmmmm research...