Code Attribution (College Board AP® Computer Science Principles): Study Guide

Code attribution & credits

What is code attribution?

• Code attribution is the practice of acknowledging the original author or origin of code that has been reused or adapted within a program

• When developers use code written by someone else (for example, from an open-source library, a tutorial, or a collaborator), they must give appropriate credit to the original source

• Attribution is an important part of ethical and responsible collaboration in software development

How to attribute code

• Attribution is typically provided as a comment within the code, near the section that was reused or adapted

• A complete attribution should include the name of the original author and the source or location where the code was found

• Where relevant, any license or usage terms associated with the original code should also be noted

• Failing to attribute code correctly can constitute plagiarism, even if the code was freely available online

• For example, a correctly attributed procedure might look like this:

// Bubble sort algorithm
// This code was made freely available by example.com

PROCEDURE bubbleSort(list)
{
    FOR EACH item IN list
    {
      // sorting logic here
    }
}
 

Why attribution matters

• Attribution gives credit to the people whose work made a project possible

• It allows others reviewing the code to find the original source and understand its context

• In a professional or academic setting, proper attribution demonstrates integrity and respect for intellectual property

Attributing code for the AP Create Performance Task

• For the AP Create Performance Task, reused code must be both acknowledged AND extended with new functionality, adding attribution alone is not sufficient

• Use one of the following comment formats depending on the source of the code:

  • Teacher starter code: This code was provided as starter code by my teacher

  • API or open-source code: This code was made freely available by [source of code]

  • Generative AI tools: This code was generated using [Generative AI Tool Name]