There are 3 ways to do things.
Homer: The right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way.
Bart: Isn’t that just the wrong way, but faster.
Homer: Yes.
I’m reminded of that episode of The Simpsons each time I hear of someone trying to do something where something else is already available to do the task at hand rather simply, or where they could have done it quicker if they thought things out differently.
I generally try and find the best possible solution for any issues I come across, I consider the quickest approach, the effects of that, the cost (if any), and whether alternatives exist that will promote future technology choices.
The balance of these generally means the decision made is closest to the right decision where possible (of course, I did myself make wrong decisions, one of that was the layout of OzVoIPStatus, not the easiest for maintenance).
But, I’m deeply amused at someone taking the HTTP protocol and using sockets coding to simply use sockets and clean up all the HTTP request data on a program they are writing.
I would almost certainly have chosen to use the IE COM object, or fetched the URL using a HTTP Request and then took advantage of the DOM object.
Or, even, using XML for the request and response.
The amusing part focuses on the fact they chose to talk to the application using sockets, which means flushing out all the server crap, and what happens when they change HTTP server? Or they add an extra application that adds more header lines?
The application could easily break and would require more maintenance, then it would if a standard was used.
Funny, sure, but it’s a little backward and counter productive when you look at the alternatives.
More likely, they weren’t aware of the alternatives, and are great at sorting problems out in a different way, rather then finding a solution to the problem, they make a new solution to a problem best solved with different technology.
“A different approach”.
Enjoy!