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Subject: Re: What constitutes a clone?

Author: José Carlos

Date: 05:45:10 02/16/05

Go up one level in this thread


On February 15, 2005 at 23:26:12, Uri Blass wrote:

>On February 15, 2005 at 21:49:45, Lance Perkins wrote:
>
>>Consider this scenario:
>>
>>You saw someone else's code, then you went out and wrote your own code, which
>>ended up to be like the other code.
>>
>>Even in this scenario, you could be violating the copyright of the other code.
>>
>>The only way around this is with the 'clean room' approach. If you want to make
>>a similar or compatible code, you should have not seen the other person's code.
>>Instead, somebody else would see it, describe to you what it does, then you go
>>and write the code.
>>
>>So, in all the cases where you stated that you took crafty's code and modifed
>>potions of it, it is considered a clone.
>>
>>Let me go back to my novel example:
>>
>>Assuming someone has written a 12-chapter novel. You then went and copied the
>>1st chapter, and then with your own ideas, you wrote chapters 2 to 12 which is
>>your very own original story. Can you submit this new novel to a publisher and
>>claim it as your own work?
>>
>>---
>
>The only simple solution is to change the rules and decide that everything is
>allowed here and every code that is published is simply the public domain
>and you cannot publish code without making it the public domain.


  I disagree. In books and novels world, there's almost no cloning. It is always
catched, and it is usually very clear when you cloned, just using common sense.
You don't need a rule that 3 words is not cloning and 4 words is. You just read
it and see if it is a clone or not.
  Then, the best solution must be, like in books world, that everything is open
source, and then it's easy to catch cloners like in books, just reading the
code.
  Of course there's code obfuscation, but it's easy to see it. Any obfuscated
code should be automatically rejected. Finally, the referee in any computer
chess tournament would compile all the sources before each round.
  I bet noone would be so stupid as to cheat in such scenario.

  José C.




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