Is it reliable to use and download libraries needed from GitHub and copy-pasting codes in order to increase productivity? [duplicate]

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Are there concrete reasons not to use libraries and code snippets heavily? [closed] (16 answers)

Closed 5 years ago.

I'm just wondering. Is it okay or true that some of the best programmers once taught that to become an effective programmer is through being a lazy programmer rather than spend time memorizing lots of code and get through to deadlines? For example, a programmer relied on research and downloading libraries needed for his or her project, read some instructions or document on how to use the library, and then sometimes whether he or she knows the math will copy-paste the samples. Afterwards, he or she will review its structure's source on how this code used it. Some contribution for help and tips in effective programming to complete the project's deadline would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Of course - it's not very effective to reinvent the wheel. If someone else has already solved the problem and made it freely available, why not take advantage of that?

However, that road is full of pitfalls. If you don't truly understand what the code is doing and how, or it's a trusted and well known library, you don't want that in your production code. When the system fails and the owner comes asking why is this part of the system killing our business you don't want to answer "Dunno, I didn't write that, just copied it from GitHub to get past your deadline".

I guess the lazy/smart programmer tries to optimize to write as little code as possible over a long period of time, including code written for future bugfixes, upgrades and maint.