I will generally use exiting code to complete a task. I am able to create new code but I am also very good at understanding existing code. With the years, I find that using existing code is very often the best economical (read least effort) way to go. I have also used whole systems of software to accomplish something it was never designed to do. With success. It is just a matter of how you look at things. I you can picture the stock market as general store, you might be able to use a sophisticate inventory replenishment system to pick up what stock to buy and what to “put on sale”.
Lately I have been using a trick I call “encapsulating”.
Say I am frustrated with a program like “vlc” that is not doing what I want. Instead of trying to change the source code and spending multiple hours of study, I would just call it from a script (or even another program) and then I can do whatever I want before and after that program (again, say “vlc”) executes.
It is working 90% of the time currently. In other words, with very little work, I am able to get what I want.
This guy is saying that deciding to rewrite from scratch is the worst idea.
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“The idea that new code is better than old is patently absurd. Old code has been used. It has been tested. Lots of bugs have been found, and they’ve been fixed.”
www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/