> The ability to change which library is being used without needing to rebuild t... | Hacker News

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TomSwirly on May 2, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: “Shared libraries are not a good thing in general”

> The ability to change which library is being used without needing to rebuild the main program is really important.

In 40 years in the field, I've never needed that. Every single time, we just emitted an entirely new build - because it's _much easier._

> Maybe rebuilding the program isn't practical. Maybe rebuilding the program isn't possible because it's closed/proprietary or the source no longer exists

These are edge cases.

Nearly all the time when we develop, we are making changes in an existing codebase.

account42 on May 3, 2021 [–]

> Every single time, we just emitted an entirely new build - because it's _much easier._

For you, the application developer. For end users of old or proprietary software, replacing libraries is much more feasible.

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