At LCA 2004 Andrew Tridgell gave an excellent presentation on his junkcode directory. A few snippets from the presentation:
Most programmers write bits of junkcode at one time or another. It’s an important part of learning to be a better programmer.
In this talk I hope to convince you to value your junkcode, and to keep it rather than deleting it when it has served its initial purpose. Today’s junk can help you build tomorrows killer app.
Your junkcode directory forms a type of toolbox.
Instead of telling people “I once wrote a program that does that” I can say “here is a program that does that”. A great way to impress the boss!
You can download the entire presentation here.
I’ve found having a junkcode directory a valuable part of my toolbox as a programmer and consider myself fortunate that I was able to attend a talk that provided me with a life long lesson.