Did we really always need to use Ruby/ rails plugin?

Question

I been intersted in ruby and rails lately but what I always encounter in blog/ podcast / book is they will always teach how to use ruby or rails plugin/ ruby instead of writing one. Did we really always need to use plugin, even thing like authorization? Authenticate? Is it really waste time Or hard to write from start? Then if it hard and waste time why rails say make web development less painful? Or I was wrong in term of concept? Goal ? Or anything else? Of rails? Anyone can guide me ?

Answer 1

It can be a good learning experience to write your own tagging system, or authentication system, or what have you. That's one argument for "rolling your own".

The argument for using libraries is the "standing on the shoulders of giants" concept. By using popular, actively-developed libraries, you can be reasonably sure that they're well-tested in multiple production environments and are extremely stable. And it gives you more time to focus on your actual application.

As an example, I would be very wary of writing my own system to process credit card payments when there are already full-featured, well-tested alternatives.

Answer 2

I think it really has to do with edge cases. With something you build yourself, you can think of many of the edge cases up front, but there are just as many that you will not be able to think of until you come to them. That's where the time savings comes in.

That being said, if you don't understand how to write an authentication system, then you should probably write your own. Conceptually you should fully understand how the parts of your app work, and if you don't, writing from scratch is a good way to learn. But with things that you already understand, I recommend using a gem.