i wondered if the "reinventing-the-wheel" approach (classic example: templates) hasn't a valid point somewhere.

Speaking for myself i grasb new concepts quickest when trying to implement them on my own. It gives me a better understanding on how it works and why certain things are implemented the way the are. I guess i inherited that approach back from school where we first had to write our own sort functions and such before we were allowed to use existing and well tested functions for sorting.

So my point on "reinventing-the-wheel" is that it is useful when used as a learning tool. Use it to get a feel for the class of problems you are trying to solve and then switch to more tested and sophisticated modules to get the actually work done.

I apologize for my english, i think it's a bit rusted and i hope you all understand what i mean ;-)