Show HN: Commit Comments – build commit messages in code comments

Post by Zezima » Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 8:25 PM UTC

joncalhoun wrote: post #8

Zezima wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that was my intention when making this project. I prefer the practice of making very small changes and committing frequently with opulent use of branches. However, many of my peers and co-workers have a hard time following the small-commit workflow, so this project is really for them. Being able to mark small (but significant) changes in your code as you code definitely helps reduce some ambiguity in commit mess…

Some feedback on that regard - if you could note line numbers or anything really w/ some of these it would probably help more than just messages. Eg "Concatenated strings in HelloWorld.js#12"

Post by davegauer » Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 8:36 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #7

Presumably this is so you don't forget about a bunch of small changes when making a large commit. However, for me, right before I do a commit, I always do a diff to make sure what I'm about to commit is what I intended to, which has the nice side effect of seeing all the changes and reminding me for the commit message. Is this not the common way most people commit?

Post by tylorr » Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 8:54 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #7

Presumably this is so you don't forget about a bunch of small changes when making a large commit. However, for me, right before I do a commit, I always do a diff to make sure what I'm about to commit is what I intended to, which has the nice side effect of seeing all the changes and reminding me for the commit message. Is this not the common way most people commit?

Post by eecks » Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #7

Presumably this is so you don't forget about a bunch of small changes when making a large commit. However, for me, right before I do a commit, I always do a diff to make sure what I'm about to commit is what I intended to, which has the nice side effect of seeing all the changes and reminding me for the commit message. Is this not the common way most people commit?

Post by jheriko » Thu, Jan 14, 2016, 9:26 PM UTC

davegauer wrote: post #14

jheriko wrote: post #12

doesn't this encourage the bad practice of doing large commits containing multiple things instead of independent and discrete changes? i guess its still very useful if you are working somewhere where that bad practice is enforced.

It could probably be abused in the way you describe. But I'm not sure it encourages it. I think it's a clever idea and seems like it could be handy even if you do nice, tidy commits.