[Animats]

Avoid shims.

There are lots of libraries that just put one interface on top of another interface. They don't do much actual work. Pulling in shims, especially if they pull in lots of other stuff you're not using, should be avoided.

If the dependency does real work you'd otherwise have to code, then use it.

[dawnerd]

cough Mongoose. Been moving away from it on my projects. While it does provide a nice interface, it just creates more work down the road.