Xiaofan Chen wrote:
>> This sort of approach works for many things. It is often easier to take a
>> working system, and tweak it until it does what you want, instead of 
>> writing
>> one from scratch. Even if you end up rewriting it from scratch anyway.
>>
>
> On the other hand, I think what Solarwind has done is really remarkable
> for his age.

True. Although I wish he was a wee bit less overconfident. :)

BTW, why "on the other hand"? I don't think that what you said, contradicts 
what I wrote above.


> And sometimes it is good to start from scratch and really get innovative.
> In this case he does not have time to market issues and thus he
> can have more choices.

The danger here is that even seasoned engineers get frustrated and bored 
with their hobby projects. There's no better way to boost one's motivation, 
than to actually complete a project. There are few things worse than having 
people remind you about that calculator project you started a year ago.

Using an off-the-shelf solution does not mean you can't start from scratch 
and "really get innovative." It means you'll learn new things, have a better 
chance of successfully completing your project, and have more fun doing it.

Vitaliy

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