Sharing Your Scripts

Good morning everyone.

Out there in the cyberspace, there are some programmers/scripters who actively and voluntarily share their scripts or sources on websites such as Hotscripts.com, and some even come with ample and professional documentation such as scripts on Freshmeat.net. However, on the other extreme, there are people who ACTIVELY and DELIBERATELY hide their source codes by disabling right click or escaping their HTML scripts.

What are your takes? Do you think we, as programmers, should protect our source codes to acknowledge our efforts or share it with everyone in the name of goodwill?

For me, I choose the latter. That was how I came to be the scripter/programmer I am today. That was how I learnt. That's how I am going to return it to the cyberspace (maybe not right now...when I get better). Those people who hide their sources in the name of intellectual copyright are ultimately selfish and arrogrant. Of course it may be rebuked that these people do not want their works to get stolen or their credits deleted. Howver, all they need to do is to add a short note in the beginning, stating that if they wish to use their scripts, they must not delete the credits. What better way to show off your intellect than to share your works with the world.

I learn best by watching something that already works and observing a whole system in operation, looking at how things work together. This is how I learned a whole load of things, from HTML to PHP to VB. When people copyright their code it makes very little sense to me. Often they copyright something that is not original. Yes, their idea may be original, but the functions etc they use are not, and anyone can write exactly the same if they want, especially if there is only one way to do something in a language. Whenever I write scripts I hand them out to anybody who wants them, often leaving a comment at the top of the source files, but only so they can contact me if they need help. With large projects that have gone on for many years, such as phpBB, and have taken many people many hundreds of thousands of hours to complete I can understand a small notice or credit, but it makes no sense to hide the code. That kills communities and ideas.

Indeed, I learned JavaScript, HTML, CSS, ... by the source codes of other people. And as Rvalkass said: anyone can write exactly the same. I think that you can't hide your source because other people might want to learn from that source (just like I did).
And speaking of sourcecodes, does someone know how you can view a PHP-source? (If it is possible, of course.)

Ya I think spending that much time and effort into hiding your code is selfish, plain stupid and mainly just pointless. People are gonna find out how to do it or get the code from somewhere else any way. Why not save them a little time?