3 ms·

So maybe write your own version to see how it works, then use the already existing, time and battle tested solution.

sanjay_316 6y ago
And in exceptional cases, your similar program will be just different enough in a few key ways that it will open up new use cases. Redis is just a hashmap (and LRU). A load balancer is also just a hashmap (and routing). There are plenty of interesting questions about which particular hashmaps to use in each case.
- sumtechguy 6y ago
  Also dragging in a second library also means you are pulling in their issues too. Sometimes a quick little function is all you need. Sometimes though it is so wildly better than what you have it is worth doing. It is about time and cost. One project I wrote a whole subsystem to do a particular thing. On a revision of the OS they had the same thing but way better. Tossed out every line of code I had written and used that. But without writing that thing I would not have know if it was worth it or not.
  - sanjay_316 6y ago
    > One project I wrote a whole subsystem to do a particular thing. On a revision of the OS they had the same thing but way better. Tossed out every line of code I had written and used that. But without writing that thing I would not have know if it was worth it or not. This sounds like it could be a good story to learn from if you wrote it out.
    - sumtechguy 6y ago
      Not very. It was 2 custom controls. The OS came out with built in ones that did the same thing but fit the tooling better and had a few extra things my code didnt. Great learning exp on writing custom controls though! It brought forth my 3 rules of windows programming. Always read the docs (then re-read them). If MS has a bit of GUI that does something there is usually a control in there to do it. For every function in windows there is usually an 'anti' function, they are to be called FILO.
- diehunde 6y ago
  I wouldn't say "just a hashmap". That would be like saying Kafka is just a log. But I see your point. You could replace some of the very basic functionalities with those data structures.

And in exceptional cases, your similar program will be just different enough in a few key ways that it will open up new use cases. Redis is just a hashmap (and LRU). A load balancer is also just a hashmap (and routing). There are plenty of interesting questions about which particular hashmaps to use in each case.

sumtechguy 6y ago
Also dragging in a second library also means you are pulling in their issues too. Sometimes a quick little function is all you need. Sometimes though it is so wildly better than what you have it is worth doing. It is about time and cost. One project I wrote a whole subsystem to do a particular thing. On a revision of the OS they had the same thing but way better. Tossed out every line of code I had written and used that. But without writing that thing I would not have know if it was worth it or not.
- sanjay_316 6y ago
  > One project I wrote a whole subsystem to do a particular thing. On a revision of the OS they had the same thing but way better. Tossed out every line of code I had written and used that. But without writing that thing I would not have know if it was worth it or not. This sounds like it could be a good story to learn from if you wrote it out.
  - sumtechguy 6y ago
    Not very. It was 2 custom controls. The OS came out with built in ones that did the same thing but fit the tooling better and had a few extra things my code didnt. Great learning exp on writing custom controls though! It brought forth my 3 rules of windows programming. Always read the docs (then re-read them). If MS has a bit of GUI that does something there is usually a control in there to do it. For every function in windows there is usually an 'anti' function, they are to be called FILO.
diehunde 6y ago
I wouldn't say "just a hashmap". That would be like saying Kafka is just a log. But I see your point. You could replace some of the very basic functionalities with those data structures.