Have you experienced a chilling effect?

[yyrkoon 250]

@@zeke

 

I hope  you didn't like all my posts to just shut me up hehe. I was actually hoping for more discussion, and perhaps counter points to my points to perhaps make me think of things differently.

 

EDIT:

 

One thing for sure that bothers me about what you're saying. You're a teacher, and you feel this way. BY "bothers me" I just mean that it's kind of a sad situation.

[zeke 693]

@@yyrkoon,

 

Sorry, I've been busy getting ready for a class next week. 

 

I'm liking everyone's posts because I want them to know that I appreciate their contribution to the discussion. Thank you for yours too!

 

All of us speak from our own points of view. I spoke up because I was thinking out loud. I do not necessarily believe everything that comes out of my mouth. The intent is to say things out loud, listen to what I am saying then process those things. Are they bad or good, foolish or wise, obvious or insightful?  And so on.  

 

I posted my thoughts to invite you all into this same process of testing my observations.

 

My apologies if my suppositions come across as selfish or ignorant.

 

On the topic of being a teacher, I resonated with the observations that @@Rickta59 and @@spirilis spoke of. It depends upon the context in which things are being shared:

• Does the requestor demand knowledge from the giver (panic approach)?
• Does the requestor seek wisdom for the application of knowledge (true student)?
• Does the requestor beg you to solve their problem (profit motivation)?

It's up to the giver to respond appropriately from his or her point of view.

 

Someone called me at my office. He found me via this website. He begged me to solve his msp430 hardware problem. I did. I reckon that I saved him $10,000. Yet that fellow apparently thought my wisdom, knowledge, experience and efforts were not worth anything to him. He did not pay me. He just disappeared into the wind. Shame on me. I will never do that again.

 

@@yyrkoon, your point about not sharing valued code resonated with me as well. Thank you. I agree. In fact, that is what I have done for the most part. It is true, there are some code wizards here and I have learned from them as well. Yet, I know that I have not put any of their code into my own work. That includes @@oPossum's incredible printf() function and @@RobG's LCD code. Although, in the near future, I may have to ask RobG for permission.

 

Do I know everything? Not a chance.

 

Do I learn in a vacuum? No way. I learn from data sheets mostly. If you can't read the data sheet then you're in deep trouble as an Engineer.

 

Do I copy-paste code from 43oh.com into my own work? I can't remember the last time I did.

 

Do I share my code here on 43oh.com? Yes. I have shared simplified versions of my code. I rewrite some routines to save the awesome stuff for myself. Case in point, I know that I am holding out on my 1-Wire code. Why? Because I make money with that code. Any code that I have charged someone for is not allowed to be posted online. That's just a personal rule.

 

But, once, I shared some code here that I did make money with. Someone (I think oPossum) ripped that code up and dismissed its value immediately. I took that personally. I don't like that feeling.  I know it has had value because I got paid for it. My customer's needs were taken care of. I am now careful when considering the sharing of my code.

 

Do I copy-paste the code that I find online elsewhere?  In general, nope. Typically, I can't use the code that I find online. It usually doesn't work out of the box for my application. Take oPossum's code. To my eyes, he's an absolutely gifted coder who started coding in assembly language (I'm guessing). His c code looks like assembly to me. He appears to think in assembly. I do not. Sometimes I wished that I did! Therefore, I can only learn from the general intention of his routines. My implementations will follow my way of thinking. It's not right or wrong. It's just different. 

 

As I mentioned from the start, I'm just thinking out loud in order to process my feelings and my observations. I do not claim to know what is right or wrong in all of this. I do claim to be slightly confused but seeking clarity on the matter.

 

I will continue to contribute here as I can.

I will keep my mouth shut on topics that I know nothing about.

I will share my insights and experience as I can.

 

Hopefully, the panicky students will learn patience.

Hopefully, the charlatans will get the bum's rush out of this place.

Hopefully, the eager students will continue to come here to learn.

 

Personally, I find the eager students a breath of fresh air. I find that they are the ones who learn how to share their learning journey with others who come here.

 

It is my intent to be a person that gives more than he takes from this community. Forgive me if I have failed at this task. 

[yyrkoon 250]

@@zeke

 

Well my questions were more rhetorical than anything, meant for you to answer for yourself. I do not really place judgment on people, thats not my place. Despite that I'm very opinionated, and not afraid to show it - It may seem that way. However, with that said, I do not want everyone, or even anyone  to be like me ( would be boring ! ), and I have been known to change my ideas, opinions, and what not based on others ideas . . .but only if it rings true for me.

 

I still do think we all should still share the basic knowledge related to various hardware discussed here. But there is no reason you, I, or anyone should just give people fully fleshed out ideas, or software without some sort of compensation. That's just not very . . realistic.

 

I had some guy on the beagleboard.org google groups ask me if the software I designed to read the CANBUS module and "spit" the decoded data out over a websocket to  webrowser client was "anywhere in the open software space". He knew of it because I had mentioned it to someone else. Anyway, my answer very short, sweet, and perhaps even selfish . . ."nope."

 

EDIT:

 

Also I'd like to add that I don't keep score, and I'd probably ignore anyone I thought that did. But you talking about oPossum's printf() stuff. Because Rickta, and I used to have mini competitions about printf() this, and printf() that. The really funny part though . . . I was "competing" with Rickta, using his code lol . . .honestly though he was teaching me in a round about way, by letting me toy with his older code while he was writing new, and improved code. I learned a good bit from all that, and had fun too.

 

I think around this time, I was "hot and heavy" into C++ because of the templatized UART code oPossum wrote / shared, which I modified slightly for my own purposes. But I was so infatuated with it because the code footprint was tiny, and did a whole lot for the amount of code space it took up. Looking back, I still think oPossum's original code was great, and yes, I had fun toying with it. But now days . . . I'm back to learning more heavily towards C again. Mostly because C as a language on it's own is less complex, and less to worry about by comparison.

 

My point here I suppose condensed, is that I do appreciate various persons sharing code on the forums here, and in the process of them sharing their code / ideas, I had a good deal of fun learning various things that might have otherwise been very "dry" topics.