August 3, 2017
There are a lot of frameworks and libraries out there. I stumble upon new ones every now and then when I need a feature from them. Sometimes I just like to experiment and try out new stuff and so many times I have switched out a library that actually just replicates what I already can do, but comes with a slightly different syntax or/and promises of improved speed and size.
In all honesty I don’t know if it made sense every time. I can definitely come up with a few examples where I spent a lot of time learning some new framework to solve a problem I never had to begin with. Effectively the time is wasted. It did not help me finish the project faster and most likely just frustrated me and kept me from actually enjoying the process. This is especially true the moment you realize inside that the switch wasn’t worth it.
But there can be a benefit. If I understood what makes this framework different and I can explain that to myself, then I have learned something. It is exactly as they say in the University, it is not about knowing the implementation it is about understanding the concept behind it. And the next time I see a framework advertise itself as “just like X only faster / better” I am probably going to skip it.