My point was not that nobody ever does unnecessary work. That does happen, obviously, and we can certainly object to it.
In the case of rewriting an application feature for feature in another language, that may or may not be a good idea. Maybe we're switching from an interpreted language to a compiled language because we need better performance. Maybe we're replacing a huge pile of impenetrable bash with a well organized Python app. Maybe we're taking advantage of a library that's only available in another language. Maybe there's a good reason for the rewrite but it's so much work that it's still not worth it. Maybe it's just a engineers wanting to use the latest toys because it'll look good on their resumes.
It's totally legit to question the need for a given project. But the phrase "reinvent the wheel" is just scornful insult. It adds nothing to the discussion, and in fact makes it harder to discuss trade-offs.
In the case of rewriting an application feature for feature in another language, that may or may not be a good idea. Maybe we're switching from an interpreted language to a compiled language because we need better performance. Maybe we're replacing a huge pile of impenetrable bash with a well organized Python app. Maybe we're taking advantage of a library that's only available in another language. Maybe there's a good reason for the rewrite but it's so much work that it's still not worth it. Maybe it's just a engineers wanting to use the latest toys because it'll look good on their resumes.
It's totally legit to question the need for a given project. But the phrase "reinvent the wheel" is just scornful insult. It adds nothing to the discussion, and in fact makes it harder to discuss trade-offs.