I think every developer will agree that today efficiency of programming is very much connected with how good you can google in the Internet. For some people I’ve seen, no Internet then no programing (However this is not the case for many). But I’m not going to talk about the Internet (too many people have already done that so that no body really knows what Internet really is now – if i have to guess I’d say its a salad).
Programing should be something fun. Personally I do it for fun. And the fun of it increases if you share what you do. So have fun sharing. Makes you feel good when sharing, meets new people, get to know the other end in the world, makes new friends, discuss, argue, throw up if necessary – quite a lot can happen if you share. (i’m still talking about code/sources/scripts here).
I like people who love programming, I dont mind helping them anyway I can if they have any problems on programming. Whats the point of me finding this solution for this really hard to solve problem if it is used only by a bunch of people. I mean it would just be a waste of my effort and a few bottles of water. If I cant get it to others may be i should help someone else get it to others for it to be usefull (are we talking about marketing???).
So we share most of our code through the Internet. If somebody wants to know how to make a cup of coffee using java, why not help the poor guy create it. After all, everybody loves coffee (almost). Let us share our recipe. (I’m still talking about codes/scripts/snippets here). If you’re a developer you are bound to need help on something which you are particularly not fluent at. Besides once in your life time you might have to make your girlfriend a banana flavoured tea (should I drop the banana to the tea or chop it and mix it with the tea? [I’m talking about real bananas here] – I suppose the monkeys would like it but not your gf). Or you could just ask her to come another day until you learn how to make it. Would be pretty romantic thing to say wouldn’t it??? (time to throw up).
So you give out what you know what you’ve written (or should i say typed) freely to anyone who wants it (which would make you happy for your own generosity) hoping one day one of them will be able to tell you how to make a banana flavored tea.
That’s what sharing our code is all about. And btw, in my opinion open source is sharing such code which just happens to be well managed. Everything else is just additions to it.
I’m not much of a tea fan but, just in case if you were looking for it, here’s the closest I got http://www.steeperstea.com/tea_recipes/banana_tea_milkshake.php.
Saminda Wijeratne's Weblog 