13

After reading a community wiki on Quora, I decided it would be good to start experimenting with GitHub. I thought, "What a better way to experiment than with introductory computer science homework?" However this practice opens up my solutions to the web, and I am concerned that other students might plagiarize with it. I have read other questions on StackOverflow about version control and homework.

Thus, a few questions come to mind as I consider this practice:

  1. Does putting homework code on GitHub open it up to be copied?
  2. Are people that plagiarize familiar with GitHub?
  3. Should I be concerned?
  4. Would plagiarism detection software scan GitHub
Community
  • 1
  • 1
Elliott
  • 360
  • 1
  • 4
  • 15
  • 4
    I've recommended that this be closed because it's opinion based, but one solution for the problems you pose here is getting a free micro account offered to students that lets you have private repos on github. https://github.com/edu – carols10cents Nov 14 '13 at 14:08
  • 2
    As long as you're only working on one computer you can manage them using git without using GitHub. If you have several computers among wich you want to sync and have a linux box somewhere, you can create private repositories there too. – Nils Werner Nov 14 '13 at 14:08
  • 1
    I do that, its great since employers can see it too, and someone might benefit from the code. Just push after the deadlines. – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Nov 14 '13 at 15:24
  • 1
    Ohhhh my god! Software Pirates listen! A newbee wants to put his most valuable and brillant computer science homework onto GitHub! Be sure to copy ASAP! – Ingo Nov 14 '13 at 15:24
  • 1
    @carols10cents thanks for the tip on github.com/edu , I signed up and have an account now! – Elliott Nov 14 '13 at 16:38

3 Answers3

11

Does putting homework code on GitHub open it up to be copied?

If you create a public repository, then yes. Private repositories cost money (7$/month for 5 private repositories) though, as pointed out by carols10cents there is a free student version https://github.com/edu

Are people that plagiarize familiar with GitHub?

Open source is all about sharing. That is kind of it's point. Don't store things you want to keep private in a public place.

Should I be concerned?

For general homework no. Again, don't put essays and personal writing in a public repository. That would be similar to putting your essays on a public blog.

Would plagiarism detection software scan GitHub

I don't know. Probably, eventually.

Git can be used without github. To really learn git, you do not need github or bitbucket or any other paid service. GitHub is just a public set of servers to store/share/backup your work on.

Git is great for tracking revisions. If you have ever used Google Docs (Google Drive) and looked at it's history feature, you are probably familiar with how nice it is to be able to revisit changes and old versions of your work. Git formalizes this by allowing you to comment on your commits, branch your work into multiple versions, or just experiment without worrying about overwriting the original work.

Update

I read the Quora post and thought I might add this.

The very best thing that you can do to improve your skills is rent a server of your own from a vendor like Rackspace, Digital Ocean, or Linode to name just a few of the providers. These services can run as little as $5/month though $10-$20 a month is more typical. From there you will have to learn how to configure a Linux machine. You can install a git repository, mail servers, web servers, whatever you want, in a very low risk environment. Make a mistake and you can just reset the server to its virgin state. I recommend installing an Ubuntu distro because of its large community and relative ease of installing new software.

One of the problems with developers is that they often are too dependent on sysadmins for tasks that really should be part of their repertoire.

Nathaniel Johnson
  • 4,731
  • 1
  • 42
  • 69
2

Does putting homework code on GitHub open it up to be copied?

It depends. If the repository is public, anyone can see it, and fork it. They may even send you pull requests! If the repository is private, on the other hand, it can only be seen by people that you allow. You need a paid subscription to create private repos.

Are people that plagiarize familiar with GitHub?

That's off-topic. But IMO, you should always suppose plagiarizers are familiar with everything.

Should I be concerned?

It's just homework. Why do you care? It's not like that's your doctor thesis or your next patent material, is it?

Would plagiarism detection software scan GitHub

I know there's software that does that with Wikipedia. I wouldn't be surprised if someone made that for Github. But usually such software checks whether you've copied something from well known sites - if you are the author of the original content, you have nothing to worry about. If other people are plagiarizing you, it means you are good at what you're doing.

Last but not least: you might want to read about Creative Commons. Unless you really want to keep your work top secret, it's better to use a CC license than to lose a night's sleep over people copying your work.

Geeky Guy
  • 9,229
  • 4
  • 42
  • 62
1
  1. Yes, unless you use a private account.
  2. How could we know?
  3. By publicizing your work, you're not doing anything wrong. Those who would cheat by copying your work and pretend the work is theirs would be the bad guys. Now if your teacher receives twi identical homeworks, you'll have to prove your innocence, which might not be so easy.
  4. I guess so.

My advices

  • experiment by opening a private account, that onlyyou can have access to, or
  • experiment with git (which is what matters, more than github) by installing your own git server on one of your own machines.
JB Nizet
  • 678,734
  • 91
  • 1,224
  • 1,255
  • 2
    Re: #3, I am not that familiar with github, but wouldn't having your homework there provide an objective timeline that could serve as proof of your priority/innocence? – RBarryYoung Nov 14 '13 at 14:15
  • @RBarryYoung yes, it would. It could also be used to prove that OP is the original author. – Geeky Guy Nov 14 '13 at 14:15
  • Well, you coud also have copied/stolen the homework of a class mate, and put everything to github, pretending you're the original author. – JB Nizet Nov 14 '13 at 14:17
  • @JBNizet that wouldn't happen if the class mate had uploaded to Github first ;) – Geeky Guy Nov 14 '13 at 14:32