4 ms·

I just wonder who cares? At all? What is "better"? Reinventing wheels instead of relying on open source, battle tested code? Also alptail isn't an npm package?

I just wonder who cares? At all? What is "better"? Reinventing wheels instead of relying on open source, battle tested code? Also alptail isn't an npm package? https://github.com/danieljpalmer/alptail https://github.com/danieljpalmer/alptail

marcus_holmes 6y ago
This "reinventing the wheel" concept has to die. Writing your own code is not "reinventing the wheel". It's what we do. A lot of times writing a new implementation is faster in the long run (more focused, less obscure, easier to maintain). Open source code is often not "battle tested" in your environment for your use case. And if there is a problem, getting it fixed can be a nightmare. It's like I'm making a go-cart, and making some nice appropriately-sized matching wheels for it, and someone comes along insisting I don't "re-invent the wheel" and use these four mismatched truck wheels instead. Yes, I'll save time making the wheels. But the rest of the project is screwed.
- DLA 6y ago
  > Writing your own code is not "reinventing the wheel". It's what we do. A lot of times writing a new implementation is faster in the long run (more focused, less obscure, easier to maintain). So much agreement. We often will rewrite smaller sets functions or other code for the express purposes of trimming dependencies, understanding what the code does, and having the opportunity to adopt it into our codebase with a fresh re-look at implementation, adding comments, etc. > Open source code is often not "battle tested" in your environment for your use case. And if there is a problem, getting it fixed can be a nightmare. Again. Agree with you strongly. Just because something as been available in npm does not automatically mean battle tested. There's a ton of broken/poor code out there.
DLA 6y ago
I care. I don't want an exponential growth in dependencies each time I use a top level library. 1314 packages is crazy for a small set of web components. How could one ever read/review 1314 libs to have a passing familiarity of the deps one just took on? Oh you just npm install and DON'T look through what you got. That, friend, is scary. If that's the case I'd invest in some packet capture training :) if I were you. Right, alptail is not an npm package. Clone the repo then npm install to see the tree of pain grow itself. Not picking on alptail here. Just my most recent WTF experience with getting way more deps than seems reasonable, by a mile.

marcus_holmes 6y ago

This "reinventing the wheel" concept has to die. Writing your own code is not "reinventing the wheel". It's what we do. A lot of times writing a new implementation is faster in the long run (more focused, less obscure, easier to maintain). Open source code is often not "battle tested" in your environment for your use case. And if there is a problem, getting it fixed can be a nightmare. It's like I'm making a go-cart, and making some nice appropriately-sized matching wheels for it, and someone comes along insisting I don't "re-invent the wheel" and use these four mismatched truck wheels instead. Yes, I'll save time making the wheels. But the rest of the project is screwed.

DLA 6y ago
> Writing your own code is not "reinventing the wheel". It's what we do. A lot of times writing a new implementation is faster in the long run (more focused, less obscure, easier to maintain). So much agreement. We often will rewrite smaller sets functions or other code for the express purposes of trimming dependencies, understanding what the code does, and having the opportunity to adopt it into our codebase with a fresh re-look at implementation, adding comments, etc. > Open source code is often not "battle tested" in your environment for your use case. And if there is a problem, getting it fixed can be a nightmare. Again. Agree with you strongly. Just because something as been available in npm does not automatically mean battle tested. There's a ton of broken/poor code out there.

DLA 6y ago

I care. I don't want an exponential growth in dependencies each time I use a top level library. 1314 packages is crazy for a small set of web components. How could one ever read/review 1314 libs to have a passing familiarity of the deps one just took on? Oh you just npm install and DON'T look through what you got. That, friend, is scary. If that's the case I'd invest in some packet capture training :) if I were you. Right, alptail is not an npm package. Clone the repo then npm install to see the tree of pain grow itself. Not picking on alptail here. Just my most recent WTF experience with getting way more deps than seems reasonable, by a mile.