[nine_k]

I'd say that engineers should use the highest-level tools that are adequate for the task.

Sometimes it's going down to machine code, or rolling your own hash table, or writing your own recursive-descent parser from first principles. But most of the time you don't have to reach that low, and things like parsing are but a minor detail in the grand scheme. The engineer should not spend time on building them, but should be able to competently choose a ready-made part.

I mean, creating your own bolts and nuts may be fun, but mot of the time, if you want to build something, you just pick a few from an appropriate box, and this is exactly right.

[yakshaving_jgt]

I don’t understand. Every mainstream language has libraries for parsing into general types, but none of them will have libraries for parsing values specific to your application.

TFA links to Alexis King’s Parse, Don’t Validate article, which explains this well. Did you not read it?