Ethics 101: To re-use or not to re-use?

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by MikeDubreuil

Can you explain... Are you saying that it is okay for teams without software engineers to flounder with software?

Yes. Lets face it. FIRST has never really been an even playing field. Some teams have better engineering support over others. Same goes for programming. Some teams, like Wildstang(I only say this because they have posted on this thread) have accomplished a lot as far as programming goes. Their StangPS has been known to all and they have shared their designs. In my opinion, we should be grateful to them for sharing the concept in detail(I think I saw it on their website). They did not have to because they put in the hard work and were privileged enough to have the expertise. On the other hand, I am sure there are many teams out there who have complex code which do wonderful tasks but never release their code or concept to others. Bottom line: its their choice. So understand - I am by no means saying that teams should not share and the not so privileged teams should have crappy programs - because I know FIRST has taken steps to help teams with their basic needs(default code). But FIRST also provides a kit chassis to all teams and it is totally upto the teams if they want to use them or not. Some will, some won't, so what? The bottom line is always inspiration and having a running bot is a good start.

p.s. 25 doesn't have any flourishing software engineers so I am not standing up for my team by any means.