I agree. What's the point of making generic code ? Do you really think your code will be re-used in the future for similar cases ? If not, better do what you've been asked and not dwell into abstraction.
Time goes by pretty quickly, things change, and so much code is being made obsolete every year. Remember, it's easier to write code than to read it. Thus, write code that is readable and that does the job, not code that does something abstract and "lead the way for similar cases".
To me inheritance and object oriented programming should let people make libraries, but not make end user applications. Application are imperative and follow scenarios and use case, they're not OOP. Most programmers should just use OOP and inheritance when they use libraries, not in other cases. You don't need to make a library very often, thus, don't try to use inheritance or to write a library.
Maybe that's too short sighted. Constantly rewriting code has a big cost. A huge cost actually. I see it at my work everyday: there is a pervasive (fashionable?) attitude that no code lives more than 3 years, and we have incessant "migrations" to new and better systems. You wouldn't believe how costly those migrations are, including through losing good people who don't want to suffer through them (and I am sympathetic to their plight, it's really horrible)...
> What's the point of making generic code ? Do you really think your code will be re-used in the future for similar cases ?
Re-use is only one aspect of generic code. The other, no less important aspect, is a reduction of possible implementations, which results in less bug-prone, easier to read code.
Time goes by pretty quickly, things change, and so much code is being made obsolete every year. Remember, it's easier to write code than to read it. Thus, write code that is readable and that does the job, not code that does something abstract and "lead the way for similar cases".
To me inheritance and object oriented programming should let people make libraries, but not make end user applications. Application are imperative and follow scenarios and use case, they're not OOP. Most programmers should just use OOP and inheritance when they use libraries, not in other cases. You don't need to make a library very often, thus, don't try to use inheritance or to write a library.