Reinventing the wheel

Re-inventing the wheel

This is a glib phrase that describes needless busy work doing something that’s already been done. At one time it was exclusively the language of programmers flaming one another in forums. Even then it was usually a term of abuse. Since then it’s been hi-jacked by many closely related groups. Like many hi-jacked terms, its lost most of it’s meaning, used as rhetoric in place of reason.

It’s part of the philosophy of the lizard brain.

It’s a perfectly valid point of view if you’re content with what passed as merely satisfactory, last year. If you’re happy with being on the trailing edge.

In truth people are constantly re-inventing the wheel, and just about every other thing ever invented. Chupa Chups re-invented sugar and made millions. If you’re not convinced take a look at the wheels on your car. Notice how they aren’t solid discs of wood. They have tyres filled with air, and suspension (to flatten the road, on the fly!)

In some cases it’s faster to write your own code than spend the time researching, sourcing and acquiring code someone else made. Coders testing their methodologies, designs, or just implementations look like they’re re-inventing the wheel.

Do you use Windows? The latest version? What does that number at the end mean?