Path: csiph.com!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder3.hal-mli.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Joshua Cranmer Newsgroups: alt.comp.lang.borland-delphi,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Oracle/Google demonstrate human beings cannot write 10 lines of code without making a mistake ;) Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 08:08:09 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 23 Message-ID: References: <567cr7p4c6g9u0vvku8m6nd3d48d7tor3h@4ax.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 12:08:26 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="pI4Z3tyqu+LR6ovgG/2wGg"; logging-data="6401"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18HOgxEBPHiweL2mE8ug9Ebmg6nIVaO9+g=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:12.0) Gecko/20120428 Thunderbird/12.0.1 In-Reply-To: <567cr7p4c6g9u0vvku8m6nd3d48d7tor3h@4ax.com> Cancel-Lock: sha1:j6FRG0/RIKOIcBuvrCLgABLJcao= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:20982 comp.lang.java.programmer:14618 On 5/18/2012 5:57 AM, Roedy Green wrote: > On Thu, 17 May 2012 15:09:23 +0200, "Skybuck Flying" > wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted > someone who said : > >> So this code seems highly buggy and does somewhat prove that it was copied > > Even if it were, so what. Every time you write a sentence you copy > words from a dictionary. Copying should only apply to complete works. > You are allowed to copy paragraphs of books. So it seems to be > partial methods should be fair game. Uh, no. Copyright law can potentially apply to even a mere fragment of a sentence (although, in exceptionally small fragments, it is effectively impossible to actually enforce copyright). At least in US law, this is a notion of fair use which basically amounts to "you can copy small-to-substantial portions of a piece of work if you're not 'intending' to replace it" (note: this is a very footloose summary and not expert legal advice. Please consult the US code before attempting to cite this in defense in court). -- Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth