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I'd argue there's a lot wrong with reinventing the wheel. People don't seem to care about the inevitable waste of programmer time and effort that comes with int
by badpenny 9y ago
I'd argue there's a lot wrong with reinventing the wheel. People don't seem to care about the inevitable waste of programmer time and effort that comes with introducing a new programming language or library, assuming it gains any traction.
- Lazare 9y ago> assuming it gains any traction. There's little risk of that I think; even very strong and innovative languages struggle to gain traction. It doesn't tend to happen by accident. And let's not forget that writing your own ORM, compiler, programming language, hardware driver, etc., (even blog engine!) is an amazing way to learn. But it is good to know whether a project is a hobby project to help learn, or a serious project aimed at getting traction, or what.
- alttab 9y ago>> But it is good to know whether a project is a hobby project to help learn, or a serious project aimed at getting traction, or what. Most programming projects start with the intention of the latter but usually end up becoming the former.
- kodo 9y agoI’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) Linus Torvalds 1991
- alttab 9y agoMinecraft is another good example.
- the_duke 9y agoI think it's the other way around. Most projects start out as a hobby / experiment and a tiny fraction of those become popular.
- weberc2 9y ago> It doesn't tend to happen by accident. I don't know, C++ is pretty popular. ;)
- 59nadir 9y agoI (and everyone else) am allowed to waste precisely as much time as I feel like both as a creator and user of things.
- brightball 9y agoBy reinventing the wheel we've gotten much better wheels.
- badpenny 9y agoThere's a difference between improving something and reinventing it.
- dragonwriter 9y agoUse of time for things that the programmer values, even if you don't, is not a waste.