

Ask HN: Why not to reinvent the wheel? - jahansafd


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mikegirouard
I suppose it depends on which wheel one plans to reinvent. It's a judgment
call.

As a programmer, I've found myself seeing an app or framework and trying to
recreate it on my own. Whether I succeed or fail doesn't really matter, but
rather the knowledge from the experience is what I'm after.

In practice, I almost always try to use existing tools where I can rather than
building them from scratch. That said, sometimes it makes sense to quickly
hack the part that I need rather than include an entire vendor library or to
attempt to extract the part that I need.

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byoung2
There are plenty of examples of reinventing (or at least reimagining)
something with great results. Apple has a great track record with the iPod
(not the first MP3 player, iPhone (not the first smartphone with apps), and
the iPad (not the first tablet PC). Google was also not the first search
engine, and Facebook was not the first social network. If you can do it better
or more profitable or even just different, do it.

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debacle
In my particular slice of the industry, it's because there's already thousands
of developers out there supporting, extending, and maintaining the wheel
that's already been invented.

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anigbrowl
Unless it's a new and improved wheel, you may never recover the cost of
capital for marketing and business development.

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Metatron
No reasons why not. Go ahead, knock yourself out.

