What is the purpose of including a library in programming?

Including a library in programming primarily serves the purpose of facilitating code reuse. Libraries consist of pre-written code that can perform a variety of functions. By incorporating a library into a program, developers can avoid reinventing the wheel, allowing them to leverage existing solutions for common problems. This not only saves time but also helps to ensure that the code is more reliable and less prone to errors, as libraries often undergo extensive testing and refinement.

When developers use libraries, they can focus on creating unique functionality for their specific applications rather than dealing with the intricacies of lower-level programming tasks that are typically handled by the library. This results in faster development cycles and cleaner, more maintainable code, which can be easily shared and reused across different projects.