Not sure if this is exactly what you're talking about, but it's a good read nonetheless - For just $68, the author was able to create a 100% fake Twitter celebrity (a tech and social media guru) with tens of thousands of followers and a "verified account" checkmark, as well as his own Wikipedia page, personal website, etc.
So, I understand that FOSS is great and we all want more open software because there are tangible benefits to working with open software.
I'm less clear on why API's shouldn't be copyrightable. An API isn't just a few lines of code. It's often an intense creative endeavor that ultimately represents a very specific (sometimes innovative) way of looking at the world. Sometimes, those views are uniquely terrible or uniquely elegant... but what's clear is that they are not "natural" in the way that a mathematical equation or physical law may be. It's clearly an act of creation, at least in my mind.
With that in mind... What are the best reasons to deny copyrights to API authors in a legal system that allows writers (who create intense creative endeavors representative of very specific and often innovative ways of looking at the world) copyright protections?
(Mind: I'm not against reforming said legal system; however, given the status quo, I'm not convinced about the differentiation between an API and a written work as creative (and copyrightable) works.)
(Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of open source and being as "free" as possible. I love Creative Commons and fiercely enjoy the freedoms that FOSS can provide to developers and consumers. I think that API's are something that should be open rather than closed, but I don't think that means that all API's MUST be copyleft / public domain.)
Imagine an Array class. How many names can you come up with for: "number of elements in an array"? Count(), Size(), Len(), Length(). Those are 4 common names.
Now imagine a system where you can copyright those names. The first 4 people who use those obvious, functional names get a monopoly on their use because that's what copyright is: a government granted monopoly.
We have hundreds of languages, and many languages have multiple Array classes.
Can you see how such system would destroy our ability to write understandable code?
An API is a very small part of the overall code.
If you want to compare this to writers: code is the novel and it does get copyright protection, just like a novel.
API name is like a chapter name and just like Melville doesn't get copyright (i.e. exclusive use) of "Loomings", a programmer shouldn't get a an exclusive use of Array.Count().
Just as I can copyright a work such as a novel that contains the word "Count" even though I might not be able to copyright an isolated sentence containing it, I think there's a good argument that something like the Java standard library API hangs together and should be subject to copyright even if a single method signature would not.
Copyright covers only the expression. For example, in a C program, the header files can be copyrighted. I think it's pretty fair to argue that Sun can copyright their expression of an API. However, you cannot copyright facts. I would argue that the array class having a sort method is a fact. And therefore I should be able to create my own expression of that fact.
Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed. The argument is the implementation of an API is the expression but the API is merely something akin to the table of contents. It's a description of the thing but it isn't the thing itself. This view seems pretty logical to me.
It doesn't necessarily matter that something is an act of creation -- nearly everything is -- that is necessary for copyright but it isn't sufficient. Your assumption is that any intellectual exercise, no matter have trivial or damaging to the commons, deserves protection. But that is neither the spirit or the letter of the law.
Also, this really doesn't have anything to do with open source and everything to do with interoperability. Open or closed source, copyrights on APIs would lock out entire classes of software that we take for granted every day.
Slate.co looks like it could evolve into a viable contender in this space. I have a few qualms about the way questions are structured, but the site is pretty and nice enough.
OneNote is pretty great. It uses SkyDrive, but is available for free on most mobile platforms (Iphone,Android,Win8 Phone) and any platform with a moderately up to date browser. (Via the web app on Skydrive)
What do you mean when you say tester? If you mean "someone to run manual test cases," it is probably because those sorts of jobs are pure tedium... They can be outsourced to websites too.
If you mean a software engineer that designs software to validate that other complex software systems function (often dealing w nontrivial engineering efforts and undecidable problems) , they probably don't freelance because we denigrate them by calling them "testers" and they'll get hired fulltime by companies that understand the value of their work.
Maybe it's just my phone (I have a Lumia and am not in a place right now to ask for someone else's phone to repro on another platform) , but it seems that the mobile site could use a slight improvement. It's a gorgeous page, but if I want to make multiple comparisons I have to scroll up to the top... Maybe some nav buttons can appear at the bottom? Or at least an anchor link to get back to the top?
Hey mate, our mobile site could, ah, use a little work. We are using the same html as the primary site and just using media queries and hiding elements to make it at least bearable. Can't wait to have the time to do a proper job!
Maybe you could present the different options in reverse order of votes? (filtered a bit so that spammy answers aren't always first.) Changing the order of presentation can be a good way to stem cascade effects from seniority/etc. For example, the US supreme court votes in reverse order of seniority to help prevent cascading effects. (That way less senior justices can vote Wo undue influence...)
Are there any serious benchmarks that compare the performance of Java and C#. As someone who works with both languages, I can generally but the qualitative arguments that the author is making, but I would really like to see some data...
Maybe our community has more wide-reaching problems that could also be addressed? Sexist humor strikes me as coming from the same general jackassery that made people mock Heather Arthur's Replace project. I don't think we, as computer scientists /engineers /hackers/etc, have cultivated a positive environment for collaboration or communication... We have plenty of toxic tendencies that should be addressed. (sexism then being one of many things.)
InclinedPlane mentioned "Working Effectively with Legacy Code," and I'd just like to add that's one of the greatest software engineering books out there.
Feathers (the author) methodologically chose to copy / inspire some of his examples from code he's worked with as a mentor / developer (some of it from his time @ Thought Works w/ Beck, et al.)
The book is similar to Fowler's Refactoring in that it provides some core thought processes / ideology and then a long list of heuristics and techniques for revising/updating legacy code. (I find his definition of "legacy code" as any software without automated testing to be challenging and insightful, especially since it indicts most code written ever. ;)
If you get the chance, you could also consider reading "Clean Code", it doesn't have /as much/ "real world" source but is still excellent.
Are there any good articles that talk about this practice? Seems like that could be interesting...