4 ms·

But isn't using a library generally better idea than to roll your own stuff ? At least that is my approach to programming.

killingtime74 5y ago
Yes generally. However to evaluate how good a library is, do you not need to know what it is doing?
dimmke 5y ago
Whether or not using a library is better is highly dependent on the problem you're trying to solve. Sometimes there isn't a library. Sometimes the library hasn't been updated in years. Sometimes you need only 10% of a library's functionality but have to import 100% of it. Etc... But the problem - and I say this as someone who was like this for years, is when you reach for a library before attempting to actually understand the problem or what the library is doing. Then it's just Google driven development. And you better hope that the library has example code you can copy and paste and modify to fit what you're trying to do, because when you don't understand anything about what's going on under the hood that's mostly what you're going to do. Like I said, I was like this for a long time. Libraries were a black box to me. I still work with people who are like this. In the article this comment thread is about, he talks about how he released an open source library for doing advertising on Windows Phones and got tons of Issues from other "developers" wanting new feature/changes. Their mindset isn't "I could add this myself" or put in a pull request, this guy who I am relying on to do a part of my job for me -for free- needs to fix this. Ultimately, you don't grow as a developer when you think like this. You don't grow to become the kind of developer that makes libraries. It also gets harder and harder to be effective the more senior you get. Because if you need a feature the package you're relying on doesn't have, you're SOL.
- random_kris 5y ago
  Good points thanks for clarification. My general approach is to treat libraries as black boxes untill they I need more from them or they behave weirdly... Then I try to understand them. I've been lucky that the area that I am working on has well documented and up to date libraries. Working this way allows me to be faster than most of my coworkers who try to understand every piece to the fullest.
lhorie 5y ago
Depends on what your career goals are. If your goal is to just live a comfy enough life doing coding, sure. If your goal is to be making staff engineer salaries at FAANG, probably not.

killingtime74 5y ago

Yes generally. However to evaluate how good a library is, do you not need to know what it is doing?

dimmke 5y ago

Whether or not using a library is better is highly dependent on the problem you're trying to solve. Sometimes there isn't a library. Sometimes the library hasn't been updated in years. Sometimes you need only 10% of a library's functionality but have to import 100% of it. Etc... But the problem - and I say this as someone who was like this for years, is when you reach for a library before attempting to actually understand the problem or what the library is doing. Then it's just Google driven development. And you better hope that the library has example code you can copy and paste and modify to fit what you're trying to do, because when you don't understand anything about what's going on under the hood that's mostly what you're going to do. Like I said, I was like this for a long time. Libraries were a black box to me. I still work with people who are like this. In the article this comment thread is about, he talks about how he released an open source library for doing advertising on Windows Phones and got tons of Issues from other "developers" wanting new feature/changes. Their mindset isn't "I could add this myself" or put in a pull request, this guy who I am relying on to do a part of my job for me -for free- needs to fix this. Ultimately, you don't grow as a developer when you think like this. You don't grow to become the kind of developer that makes libraries. It also gets harder and harder to be effective the more senior you get. Because if you need a feature the package you're relying on doesn't have, you're SOL.

random_kris 5y ago
Good points thanks for clarification. My general approach is to treat libraries as black boxes untill they I need more from them or they behave weirdly... Then I try to understand them. I've been lucky that the area that I am working on has well documented and up to date libraries. Working this way allows me to be faster than most of my coworkers who try to understand every piece to the fullest.

lhorie 5y ago

Depends on what your career goals are. If your goal is to just live a comfy enough life doing coding, sure. If your goal is to be making staff engineer salaries at FAANG, probably not.