Editing Code reuse (section)

===Software libraries===

A very common example of code reuse is the technique of using a [[Library (computer science)|software library]]. Many common operations, such as converting information among different well-known formats, accessing external storage, interfacing with external programs, or manipulating information (numbers, words, names, locations, dates, etc.) in common ways, are needed by many different programs. Authors of new programs can use the code in a software library to perform these tasks, instead of "re-inventing the wheel", by writing fully new code directly in a program to perform an operation. Library implementations often have the benefit of being well-tested and covering unusual or arcane cases. Disadvantages include the inability to tweak details which may affect performance or the desired output, and the time and cost of acquiring, learning, and configuring the library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://docforge.com/wiki/Code_reuse|title=Code reuse|access-date={{TODAY}}|work=DocForge|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710143019/http://docforge.com/wiki/Code_reuse|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-07-10}}</ref>