I've really come across lots of incidents where, when I'm about to write an application and I notice I need this particular Framework or API, which I don't know an inch about.

So, lets say you're the one, when you get a book on it or you fired up your browser in search of tutorials. And you come across exactly what you wanna accomplish, now do you copy and paste it in your lines of code or you learn it in depth and tryna write it again from your head base on what you've learned or you tune it to your desires?

Please contribute, I also need matured minds on this.
Thanks.

Knownpal:
I've really come across lots of incidents where, when I'm about to write an application and I notice I need this particular Framework or API, which I don't know an inch about.
So, lets say you're the one, when you get a book on it or you fired up your browser in search of tutorials. And you come across exactly what you wanna accomplish, now do you copy and paste it in your lines of code or you learn it in depth and tryna write it again from your head base on what you've learned or you tune it to your desires?
Please contribute, I also need matured minds on this.
Thanks.

It happens all the time but when you find out that when ever you want to start a project you cant do without looking for a source code then there's a problem.
Your users dont care if you built it with a free open source code but you really need to understand what you are building.
I once built a website and i was asked to write a documentation on the whole site's source code line by line and lecture the IT team on how to write plugins for the site, if i had used a framework for the backend it wouldn't have been that easy, what I'm saying is when building a big project please don't use a popular n very easy framework you know nothing about for the backend.
Thanks.

If it's java , go ahead, copy paste it, make sure you understand the code slightly. But if its c++ or any other language that has manual memory management, make sure you know what your copying, line by line, because a small memory leak can mess up the whole Operating system let alone an application.

thewebcraft:

1. There are lots of copy-paste when building website, which is obviously common in Nigeria, at least to some people, do all these people really understand what they are doing too in terms of how the code works?

2. You don't use very easy and popular frameworks, because of what? What if the one I stumbled upon is not popular and is not easy to use as well.

3. What if I need to submit the project, and its a matter of urgency?

Borwe:

I think if you're really writing an application using Java, C and C++ etc, copy and pasting is rare, cause you still need to tune the copied-pasted code to your own wish.

Please address those issues.

You just need to make sure you understand what you are copying. By understand, I mean you need to know why you are copying a particular solution versus another. As long you can the answer the why question, you are developing as a coder.

Copying and pasting becomes bad for you when it resembles an old man banging a TV and moving the antenna until he gets a picture. If you're just trying pieces of code until something works, you're not learning anything. You will eventually run into a problem with no exact answer on a forum and spend a frustrating amount of time learning what you could have learned at an earlier time.

The main problem is that If you copy and paste code, you will never be able to learn the Syntax and Semantics of a programming language. Also since you are not using your brain, in the later stages when you will be required to find a logic of something new and code it, you will never be able to do it.
My suggestion to you is not to use copy paste programming, if you want a better future in programming.

Knownpal:


1. There are lots of copy-paste when building website, which is obviously common in Nigeria, at least to some people, do all these people really understand what they are doing too in terms of how the code works?

2. You don't use very easy and popular frameworks, because of what? What if the one I stumbled upon is not popular and is not easy to use as well.

3. What if I need to submit the project, and its a matter of urgency?

The important thing you should know is your syntax...
1. I've seen so many people who do that and they call themselves developer's but there's a slight gap between them and web designers.. Don't fall in this category.

2. You can use frameworks that's not copy and paste, there's a difference.

3. Always give reasonable deadline for projects forget the fact that you can build it in minutes.

something about physically typing out the code changes how your brain absorbs new information. even if you are copying, still endeavour to type it. it slows you down long enough to think about what you are doing

Thanks everyone. It best to know what you're doing and if anyway you find the need to look at other people's stuffs, read and understand what they are tryna say, no matter the language you're speaking, not just only copy-paste-andMayBeEarn.

All programmers at one point or another use snippets of code from someone/somewhere else. But it's very important to know how it works or what it does before using it.