Another Point Against Sourcecode-Releasing

Written by Dario Phong

Rawhed stated in Hugi #15 that he really thinks "demo coders out there should be releasing more of their source". Well, I don't.

It is not at all true that it would "help beginner coders a lot". When I was "younger" (a few months ago) it was very difficult to learn, and source code wasn't the solution at all, because you will be tempted to get the code, change something and then plug it into your demo. Maybe you changed almost everything, but if you don't learn the basics you'll not learn how it really works.

I like writing articles, I know putting some C code is rather easy, and makes the article more attractive, but please mind: "Instead of giving them a fish, teach them how to fish." It's more difficult to explain why and how something works, but if the reader learns it, then he'll really understand it, and then he'll be able to code it. And probably since he knows what he's doing, he will not only implement it but also improve it.

Good explanations don't need code, unless in some cases when you have to explain how it's implemented.

Furthermore, Rawhed wrote: "I'm a coder myself, and I know that when you've just finished a demo the code generally (well mine anyway) looks very messy and weird. But why not just release the code anyways?" - And let the people feel pissed off because they don't understand what you've done?

"You might find that people that look at your code will comment on it to you and give you ways to possibly improve it." - Ideas can also be improved, and ideas can be implemented. I'm not convinced that "such collaboration could boost the quality of demos to the next level", as Rawhed claimed.

The reason why I do not release all my source code is because I do something different: I teach the new coders how to write it. And I think I've achieved enough quality in my articles so that I don't need to spread code alongside. Read them (http://www.ross.net/dp), give me your opinion, learn something and tell me if you really needed code.

- Dario Phong, Barcelona 16/5/1999