Because it's fun

Couple of days ago, I've had a job interview, and one of the interviewer said something very interesting. I don't remember exact sentence but something like this: If I make a framework for hobby, it's okay. I didn't understand what the purpose of this comment, so I said "if there's no framework then no choice, right?" Then, he said "if you need to use this framework for work, then you need to consider a lot of things such as buffer overflow.".  Well, sort of agree and sort of disagree.

The reason why I needed to make loads of framework is basically because nobody would make other than me. If it's major language such as Java, then you just need to google it and find something. But I'm using Scheme, more specifically Sagittarius. Sagittarius, unfortunately, doesn't have many libraries. Of course, I'm trying to write something useful, but there's only one resource so it doesn't increase the number drastically. And even more unfortunate thing is that it's not so popular so there's not many users. If number of users is small, then not many libraries are written. (It's rather my fault because I still think it only needs to fit my hand and didn't advertise much...) Then if you need something, you gotta write it.

The part I agree with the opinion is the cost of coding. If there are well maintained libraries for you purpose, using them would reduce some time to redevelop the same functionality. Especially if the library is mature enough, then it takes a lot of resource to make your own implementation such level. (e.g. Spring Framework or so)

But should it only be like this? If you are a programmer, you want to write something from scratch because it's fun, don't you? I hear almost every year new trend framework. Not sure the actual motivations are, might be unmatched framework, might be just for fun, etc. And most of the time, it has some bugs. What I want to say is not something like new frameworks are buggy, but they can be famous even the initial version is buggy. So it's pity if you don't write/show something useful because it might not be perfect.

The very first version may only confirm your own requirement. I usually write such libraries and just put it on GitHub (you'll find loads of junks on my GitHub repository). After using it, I usually notice what's missing or not considered. If you have choice to write whatever you want to, then don't hesitate to write especially under the reason of  "buffer overflow". (It's more for me, though)