I think a main point here is what you do with the code.

If you copy some code that is "open" (that is, it has no copyright attached that forbids you what you do), and you adapt it and use it, fine, good for you. Give credit to the original author, maybe mail him and thank him.

If you want to say proudly "Well, that is *my* code!", you will have to do better than just copy and paste. I like to think of this like of writing normal documents: literal citation has to marked as citation, citing ideas has to be marked by giving credit to the original authors.

"Know your sources" is the motto of those learning. And who would ever want to stop learning ...

Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com