And how many introductions to programming compare a program to a recipe? Yet programs are copyrightable. If you're using logic, you already have lost.
I found an amusing web page today - someone wrote a book on programming for Windows, and also has a website, and on a particular page, they have a helpful snippet of code, which is really just a wrapper/reference to a Windows system call. Literally one line, no additional logic. However, they have ~5 lines of copyright declaration above it, saying it is theirs and you can only use it if you buy their book.
I thought this was really funny, given that they are essentially claiming a portion of the API defined by Microsoft just because they wrote a (pretty much the only possible) line that accesses it. It seems to be a controversial area of copyright recently.
I think for the same reason as the recipe, this one line calling of a Windows API wouldn't be covered by copyright. As I understand it, once the code is entirely functional and is unable to express any creativity you could argue it isn't covered by copyright as it exists as a fact.
I'm sure if you dig around enough you'll find really simple recipes that claim to be covered by copyright.
In fact, there is valuable and original content in writing that you should call this API function in those circumstances. But it's not embodied in the code. Once you've been to the page, it's in your head, and you can either remember it or write about it somewhere, neither of which, presumably, would be legally actionable.
When it comes to actual recipes, I find that most things I like come from a lot of repetition to adjust the details and figure out the pitfalls, so even if it's generally similar to what was published, a lot of value has been added from my perspective.
Code can be written deliberately in a kind of unfinished, unrefined way, and let those who would use it go through a similar process.
But the GPL seems significantly different from the absence of copyright.
And how many introductions to programming compare a program to a recipe? Yet programs are copyrightable. If you're using logic, you already have lost.
I found an amusing web page today - someone wrote a book on programming for Windows, and also has a website, and on a particular page, they have a helpful snippet of code, which is really just a wrapper/reference to a Windows system call. Literally one line, no additional logic. However, they have ~5 lines of copyright declaration above it, saying it is theirs and you can only use it if you buy their book.
I thought this was really funny, given that they are essentially claiming a portion of the API defined by Microsoft just because they wrote a (pretty much the only possible) line that accesses it. It seems to be a controversial area of copyright recently.