How not to reinvent the wheel

Following up with what I wrote about two weeks ago (oops, that long ago?), I wanted mention how not to reinvent the wheel. A lot of the time people repeat themselves because they don't know there is something else already out there. The best way to find out is to read websites that talk about the latest tech. Here are a few of them:

• The Server Side - a website dedicated to Java technologies. They post articles about new and updated libraries and frameworks as well as tips and tricks.
• InfoQ - a website that discussions Java, .NET and some dynamic languages and their associated technologies. This website also writes a lot about Agile development (which I'll discuss in future posts). They have many videos and articles.
• IBM developerWorks - has excellent tutorials and articles about all kinds of technologies and processes. If you find an interesting technology or process and want to find a good tutorial, this should be the first site you check.
• Google Code Blog and Google Open Source Blog - keep up-to-date with the latest Google open source projects.

Keep up with these and other sites that you might find, and you'll be able to avoid reinventing the wheel.