My idea of NIH is "we can't use this code/library/app because we didn't write it ourselves." I've been guilty of this kind of thinking. I justify it with the ta

My idea of NIH is "we can't use this code/library/app because we didn't write it ourselves." I've been guilty of this kind of thinking. I justify it with the task being so simple that there's no excuse for not writing it myself. Then comes the feature creep and ultimately it would have made more sense just to use a library. From the newbie's perspective, how is he supposed to know what libraries implement which algorithms? Moreover, he usually doesn't know the algorithm name or thinks his problem is unique and so he's sure a library doesn't exist. My experience years ago with this was spent wading through belittling comments from IRC participants while I described what I needed to do before someone with a brain said "OK, you want Algorithm Z. Not sure what libs are out there but someone has probably solved this problem." Now I can search. As for glue code, learning against several libraries with different coding/naming conventions is a Super Pain in the Butt, regardless of experience level.