I've been recently getting my head into a new GUI framework recently - ExtJS to be precise. After a few days of stumbling about, I'm now removing reams of code that I wrote at the beginning of my learning curve. This code is being replaced by far less code, but code that makes more use of the framework features.

I guess we've all been there!

I wrote that old code because I didn't understand the capabilities of the framework, and wrote more code to to compensate for capabilities I didn't know the framework had.

I've always been a believer that you should lean on a framework rather than fight it. Today I reminded myself that getting the most from a framework means you've got to invest in it. Learn it, practice it, undestand it. And, if you're fighting your framework for good reason (which I wasn't), then ask the question "is this framework right for my project?"

This is all quite obvious, but useful to remember nonetheless. In summary:

If you're writing tons of code, you're not leaning on your framework enough! Or your framework is not right for your project!