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Don't Reinvent the Wheel

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Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#21

Post by weaksauce »

pemulis wrote: post #20
slewis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a good point but less relevant to the discussion than some of the other comments here, and currently has 3x the points of all other posts in this thread. Don't just upvote just because you agree, upvote because a post contributes to the discussion!

I'm not so sure... When a blog post has basic grammatical/spelling errors, it means that the writer didn't bother to do any significant copy-editing. If the author can't take the time to copy-edit their post, why should we take the time to read it? The presence of obvious errors sends a signal that either the author's thoughts are disorganized, or he doesn't take them seriously enough to make sure they're expressed c…

I agree with you; however, it's also possible that English is not the posters original language.

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#22

Post by abuzzooz »

slewis wrote: post #15
_delirium wrote: post #4

It's nitpicky, but the second time I saw "itself" written as "it's self" I cringed extra-hard.

Its a good point but less relevant to the discussion than some of the other comments here, and currently has 3x the points of all other posts in this thread. Don't just upvote just because you agree, upvote because a post contributes to the discussion!

My mother tongue is not English, but such silly errors are inexcusable. It takes a second to google the correct form. In fact, "it's self" put me off completely and I never completed the article.

So, IMHO, good spelling and grammar are essential to any discussion.

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#23

Post by vog »

weaksauce wrote: post #21
pemulis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure... When a blog post has basic grammatical/spelling errors, it means that the writer didn't bother to do any significant copy-editing. If the author can't take the time to copy-edit their post, why should we take the time to read it? The presence of obvious errors sends a signal that either the author's thoughts are disorganized, or he doesn't take them seriously enough to make sure they're expressed c…

I agree with you; however, it's also possible that English is not the posters original language.

In that case, it is even more important to do some basic proofreading. Or ask some fried to do so.

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#25

Post by InclinedPlane »

palish wrote: post #18
_delirium wrote: post #4

It's nitpicky, but the second time I saw "itself" written as "it's self" I cringed extra-hard.

Why? You knew precisely what he meant, which is the whole point of English.

\/\/4y i5 i7 i/v\p0r7@n7 70 c@r3 a80u7 t34 k\/\/@1i7y 0f k0mmun1k@7i0n?

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#26

Post by InclinedPlane »

dawkins wrote: post #11

The good thing about reinventing the wheel is that you can get a round one. --Douglas Crockford

Go ahead and reinvent the wheel if you think you can do a tremendously better job of it. Generally speaking if you don't have confidence that you can sell your wheel to the public at large on its own merits then you probably shouldn't reinvent it.

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#29

Post by abbasmehdi »

KeithMajhor wrote: post #7
abbasmehdi wrote: post #2

This is one sided, there are many instances when people repeat the same process over and over again to get to get the same results. Improving something is not reinventing the wheel, building the exact same thing over and over again is.

If it takes less time to do it again yourself than it does to find and understand someone else's solution is that so bad?

That's a systemic flaw, not a justification for redundancy.

Re: Don't Reinvent the Wheel

#30

Post by cema »

_delirium wrote: post #19
slewis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a good point but less relevant to the discussion than some of the other comments here, and currently has 3x the points of all other posts in this thread. Don't just upvote just because you agree, upvote because a post contributes to the discussion!

I actually agree, and would probably downvote it if I saw it at +16 and it weren't my comment! (Actually, is there HN etiquette on that? If I think a comment is ok, but doesn't deserve to be as high up as it is, can I strategically downvote it? Or should I up/downvote comments without regard to their present score?)

No etiquette. There are rules but even they are nit universally followed.
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