Title: While us programmers tend to say "I'll just program it myself" it is actually much faster to:<p>- Buy an off the shelf program and take 3 hours to read their proprietary API for extra functionality.<p>- Use an existing library and read the documentation rather than building your own code.<p>- Use VB.NET or Delphi for the front-end user interface.<p>- Buy a properly documented royalty-free library for under $1000 rather than spend months integrating open source code.<p>- Use Python or VB.NET even tho it just feels right to use Java/C. (Ok, I said it. Now if I can only get this VB.NET flame shield program to finish loading.)<p>Unfortunately, us programmers tend not to do this. "Oh, we need a queue class? I'll just build it myself, takes like 30 minutes tops."<p>As coders, we need to think like an engineer who is building a car. No engineer building a car will make the engine or windshield themselves. But us coders do this all the time.<p>There are 2 parts to every program:
[1]: The new scientific code/algorithm you are writing. Which is typically quite small. (5%) [2] Everything else. (95%)<p>How many times have I got that urge.. "I don't want to do the research. I want to jump right in.. I bet I can finish this tonight.."
90% of the code out there is already written. It is more about adding the glue. And of course, finding it and <i>reading</i> the docs.
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