Libraries were created so that you could focus on mastering new and unexplored territory, not to replace programmers.
As a beginner, I didn't appreciate big libraries (like Cocoa). I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of having tons of prewritten code and stitching it together - I understood programming as writing code - so I wanted to write my own damn code, not just manipulate massive libraries.
So I turned to PHP and developed my own webapp (a stripped down Google Docs), from scratch. I quickly stumbled upon the purpose of frameworks and libraries. After writing my 20th SQL query I realized I was wasting time. About 10 hours later, I made my own light PHP framework. Now I didn't have to worry about my SQL syntax (it was automated based on the data model variables) and I got to start working on really cool/interesting programming issues rather than the mundane blah code.
Now I've started to investigate Cocoa again and I realize that libraries and frameworks have not hurt programming, but dramatically catapulted it into the realm of science rather than plug-and-chug. Today, our software is more complex than ever and it will only get more complex in the future.
I think if you see programming as just "stitching libraries together", then you've lost your passion or never had any to begin with. Programming has evolved into a science where you have to learn the foundations (languages) AND the pre-existing solutions (libraries) in order to figure out what's been done for you so that you can focus on exploring new and more complex issues.
As a beginner, I didn't appreciate big libraries (like Cocoa). I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of having tons of prewritten code and stitching it together - I understood programming as writing code - so I wanted to write my own damn code, not just manipulate massive libraries.
So I turned to PHP and developed my own webapp (a stripped down Google Docs), from scratch. I quickly stumbled upon the purpose of frameworks and libraries. After writing my 20th SQL query I realized I was wasting time. About 10 hours later, I made my own light PHP framework. Now I didn't have to worry about my SQL syntax (it was automated based on the data model variables) and I got to start working on really cool/interesting programming issues rather than the mundane blah code.
Now I've started to investigate Cocoa again and I realize that libraries and frameworks have not hurt programming, but dramatically catapulted it into the realm of science rather than plug-and-chug. Today, our software is more complex than ever and it will only get more complex in the future.
I think if you see programming as just "stitching libraries together", then you've lost your passion or never had any to begin with. Programming has evolved into a science where you have to learn the foundations (languages) AND the pre-existing solutions (libraries) in order to figure out what's been done for you so that you can focus on exploring new and more complex issues.