Don’t Try To Reinvent The Wheel
During the past few years as a computer programmer I have discovered many useful tricks for making my life easier as a coder. One of the most useful and time saving tricks I’ve discovered is never try write code from scratch. If you need to do some coding task odds are it has already been done before. All you have to do is consultant references (The Internet, Google, Books) to find the solution to your problem and you usually will find the answer.
Most programmers already have a head start on development. This is because companies have their own framework that facilitates software development. One key to becoming an efficient programmer is to understand how to manipulate the framework to your own needs. If you learn to use and adapt preexisting code you will save yourself hours (possibly days) worth of development time. The more you research the issue and the more you understand the problem the better you can adapt preexisting code to your needs.
This is why I don’t try to reinvent the wheel whenever possible.
Monday, May 19th, 2008