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Originally Posted by Dave Scheck
My reasoning is that I think that this will punish teams that actually take the time to create well written, reusable code. They have put in the time to create this product....why should they be forced to share this with a team that doesn't put in the effort?
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They aren't forced to do anything - in the propoal, those teams are free to do the busy work of re-typing everything.
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Originally Posted by Dave Scheck
What is the motivation of a new team to actually learn how to write code when they can go out and download the prewritten code of their choice?
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Because for anyone to be able to use another team's code, they will have to understand it first. Even the best-intended public code (kev or usfirst) still requires hours to fit into a complex scheme like what's used on a robot.
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Originally Posted by Dave Scheck
What is the motivation for a team to post their code in a legible format?
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So that other teams could use it? I don't know. Maybe so they don't have to retype all those comments they left out? Because it makes them feel good? Altruism? First fame? They're trying to get into heaven? It seems more stupid to purposefully obfuscate posted code than to simply re-type it.
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Originally Posted by Dave Scheck
If teams want to share a code module, or even their whole codeset, that should be their prerogative.
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I agree wholeheartedly. I do think, however, that that sort of behavior ought to be encouraged.
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Originally Posted by Dave Scheck
Would you think the same way if this pertained to mechanical design? Would you force teams to make their gearbox design public if they intended to use it from year to year? (I know that the software/mechanical comparison isn't easily made, but humor me).
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Yes.
I agree that the comparison is not easily made, and I've tried, but why not? Year after year, and with nearly every chance they get, FIRST rules in a way that makes the game more competitive, the robots better, the compeitition more fun to watch. Why should completely spilling the beans on last year's robot be any different? It's good for good teams, because it encourages them to continue to innovate, and it's good for struggling teams because it demystifies the champion teams in a way that is bound to inspire them to strive further. It makes the pie higher.