On Wheels and Squares

On a small debate with a friend, about weather he should design and implement a Data Access Layer himself, or use an existing framework, I came across a piece by Ayende about 25 Reasons Not To Write Your Own Object Relational Mapper.

I’d like to add a quote from Code Complete 2 about programmers who are reluctant to read (and use) existing solutions to known problems (on p. 823):

… even if you want to reinvent the wheel, you can’t count on success. You might reinvent the square instead.

It’s definitely not a Dave Barry kinda funny punch line, however it’s very much to-the-point.