I believe a nicer and friendlier term would be ‘social coding’. Sharing sample code is one of the little limbs of the larger open source movement. Freed from the straitjackets of profits, free sharing of technical information is quite common.
Sample code that is freely available is also a great learning aid. For the beginner programmer it’s not a shortcut; as a programmer you won’t get far if you take that shortcut. Free sample codes could be hints on how you can structure your own commands and functions to program better. Developers can piggyback on free sample programs and reuse snippets in their own code to save development time, cost, and sweat.
Ryan helped us out with the Top 10 Professional Sample Code Websites for Programmers. As a newbie, I went searching out for more.
Snipplr
A well designed code library which you can source for reusable code and you can also store your own. The site has a code search engine and you can really dive into the library using the advanced code search across a range of programming languages from A-Z. Or you can directly choose a language from the list given at the footer.
The site also has a few plugins like the Firefox and Safari Bookmarklets which make storing and retrieving code easy (see the directory mention).
Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for programmers. The stockpile of answered queries is a potential goldmine. You can use the tags or browse the lists of questions or use the search box. The site is visually very clean and with the kind of common experiences we have, you are sure to find some solution to your coding problems here. If not, go directly into the chat rooms which are arranged according to languages and platforms.
Hot Scripts
48,000 code samples in over 1,000 categories from Ajax to XML is covering a lot. The site’s focus is on web development and so you will find the latest HTML5 code samples too. The site also runs a blog with some nice articles on coding dos and don’ts. If you are stuck, try out the web development forum for a bit of programming guidance.
Koders
Koders.com is an open source code search engine. It searches 3,338,449,289 lines of open source code. 33 programming languages are covered for you to find and reuse the code you want. You can also filter your search by licenses. The site also serves as a code repository for opens source projects.
DZone
Another code source where you can upload your code examples and share them with the larger community. The site is basically arranged like a blog. You can browse through the tags which seem to suggest that the site covers quite a few languages with Java and Ruby dominating.
The site also publishes free PDFs called REFCARDZ which are very useful cheat sheets for learners and developers.
Dream.in.code
A large programming and web development community that gives you tutorials, podcasts, a discussion board, a blog, and code snippets to download and use. The site covers around 25 languages and a few lesser known ones in a category called Other Languages. Java gets the most content. The site also has a small video channel on programming.
C-Sharp Corner
The site covers C#, C++, ASP.Net, VB, Visual Studio, Windows related technologies like Silverlight, and also web development. The site has a pretty good section on video tutorials too. The beginner programmer can head to the Beginner section and use the coding resources on C#.
Source Code Online
Do a code search or submit your own code and share it with the community. The site has a listing called Top Code which is perhaps counted on the basis of page hits or downloads. Though some of the links seemed broken, a lot of the others worked out. The categories lean towards web development, but you have ones on C/C++ and VB.Net too.
Forrst
Share code, screenshots, and links with others. The only slight hitch is that it’s an invite–only community. But if you apply and manage to get in, the combination of designers and developers under one virtual roof could be a timesaver for collaborative projects like web apps and websites. The homepage design looks inviting enough.
Github
This is the site where I got the phrase ‘social coding’ from and I think it perfectly describes what these sites do. Though the site has a paid section, the public repository of code samples is free. Github is an online host for open source projects. It uses the Git revision control system. It’s quite similar to the well known SourceForge and BitBucket. You can manage your source code files collaboratively, network socially, share code snippets with others, tap the job board, and go for drinks at the meetups.
These resources prove that whatever platform or language you are working on, the web is a huge melting pot of likeminded programmers who don’t mind sharing snippets of their work. That’s a bump up for the community. Tell us about your favorite code website and if you also share your stuff online.
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