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Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

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Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#21

Post by joezydeco »

tmaly wrote: post #19
joezydeco wrote: post #13

Your grandfather probably came from a shop where engineers were encouraged or required to write everything down as they discovered problems and worked on solutions. Those notes became critically important when the patent applications were started. Some larger companies even provided nice leather-bound blank books for the engineers to use and keep on their shelves for later reference. Capturing ideas and visualizing y…

that looks really nice, I have a this one https://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Computation-Letter-Sheets... but I wish it were spiral bound. Do you know if there are any US suppliers for yours?

Unfortunately, I've never seen anything like this at this price point in the US. There's Moleskine, obviously, but they're crazy expensive and the journals don't lay flat on a desktop which drives me nuts. There are grid books at art stores like Blick, but those are even more expensive.

This might a be a good compromise. I should go to my local Blick and check this one out:

http://www.dickblick.com/items/77825-1310/

The only thing I've ever had from the US that came close was a 5x7" JournalBooks 91340 that Freescale gave me as a promotional giveaway. It's a little larger, but had a durable plastic cover and a pen holder which was pretty sweet. It seems you can only order these in bulk as a custom-branded item. Perhaps someone enterprising could kickstart up 100 orders and do a foil-embossed HN-branded cover for people to purchase. I guess HN needs a logo, too. =)

https://www.journalbooks.com/products/24-hour/24-hour-journa...

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#22

Post by RUG3Y »

I have a notebook that I keep various important thoughts in. It's only semi-organized, and it's not dedicated to a specific project, but many project notes are kept in it. I think this is a habit that I retained from my time in the Marine Corps. Pen and paper just has a certain feel to it - when I'm completely focused on my thoughts, it's much less distracting to dump right into the notebook rather than into a phone or a computer. One time I misplaced my notebook for about a week and it was a rough time.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#23

Post by RUG3Y »

robobro wrote: post #11

I use a Hipster PDA. Step 1: get 3"x5" (~8cm x 12cm) index cards. They can be ruled, gridded, blank, colored, whatever. Step 2: Get a binder clip. Step 3: Clip the cards together. It's pretty easy to get index card storage bins, and it's convenient to take around a little stack in your pocket. If you have a lot of cards, a rubber band works almost better than a clip, but it works better with fewer cards. There's a lo…

I use quite a few index cards as well. I recently outlined an ebook I'm writing, a card to each section. I'll use them to physically map out the flow of products as well - use a card for each feature/ button and move them around. I also use them to make drawings, some of which I saved and published in a zine.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#24

Post by cableshaft »

I use paper for random notes or to work out the flow of logic or data that's a little too hard to do entirely in my head, but other than it being naturally more or less chronological, I don't do any further organization.

I usually don't need to refer to those notes for more than a few days after I write them, so it's usually not much more than an archive of thoughts.

I try to digitize some of it, but I don't do that enough.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#25

Post by davismwfl »

yellowboxtenant wrote: post #9
davismwfl wrote: post #4

I keep notebooks still for most things. I use them to jot down ideas, sketch out designs and just generally write down my thoughts so I don't forget them, I usually have one to many per company and one per project. I also use them to take notes in meetings versus trying to take notes on my computer in real time. Personally, I find it pretty rude to be typing away on a computer while people are presenting or we are di…

Have you found any writing or organizational patterns to be useful? When you design a solution, does that look like a flow diagram? When you engineer a solution, do you jot down in natural language what you think you should do?

So, I do follow patterns. For notes they are just notes, written down in my own shorthand methods many times, but I leave space around each note so I can come back and jot down extra information or revise myself. So usually I leave a line or two of space depending on what it is.

When I am trying to solve a problem, I write the problem down first, then move into breaking it down in a process. I define the actors involved, the expected input and the expected output and any error conditions that I identify. Then from there I generate a simple hand written flow chart (not fancy) that will serve as a happy path through the problem.

When I get to the engineering of the problem that is where I start identifying parameter limits, error conditions, output limits and then generally write down some pseudo code to give me something to look at, sometimes that means flushing out a more complete flow diagram first. And I generally use just natural language, as none of what I am writing down is real code, although I may use abbreviations or C syntax at times to express something if it is easier. For example, I use the conditional ? : quite often for simple flow control statements just because it is compact to write, even though in code I may not use that operator in that instance.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#26

Post by abc_lisper »

I was searching for exactly the same stuff yesterday, and I found this:

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-paper-notebooks-1157038442

I usually keep notebooks, but I am ever more convinced of using one because of Rich hickey's talk: https://youtu.be/f84n5oFoZBc

and we have a better chance of remembering something if we write than type. http://lifehacker.com/5738093/why-you-learn-more-effectively....

I have previously read that people like Martin Gardner had an awesome system of keeping notes. I would love to know more about your tips.

How do keep your notes? How do you organize stuff, while retaining the freedom to doodle. How do you find stuff again(which is the killer feature for typed notes). Would love to learn from the masters - do you have any books to recommend?

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#27

Post by Ronsenshi »

I sketch design elements/components, sometimes structures, various lists very rarely pseudocode. I prefer to write down ideas which have to be realized, instead of jumping straight to realization (pseudocode).

I don't have boxes of notebooks, but I do have couple of small shelves filled with years of notebooks. From time to time I like to go through that stuff - it's actually very interesting to see your though process from years ago. Besides notebooks I have small binder filled with hundreds of post it notes for projects which I store.

Overall I vastly prefer handwritten notes for projects than some kind of digital notes. It's easy to open page for the recent feature, easy to see what you have in mind, how something should be done or what should be considered. ON the same page I could have multiple "data structures": reminders, lists, summaries and descriptions which easily show state of the progress for project/feature.

I very much like Moleskin-type notepads with dot-grids with around 100 pages. I have 2 notepads - one for work and one for personal projects.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#28

Post by nikdaheratik »

I keep some paper notes especially when sketching out visual UI aspects before trying to implement them. But I keep extremely detailed text files for each ticket as I'm working on it as well. It helps my pick up right where I left off and to find something that was thorny if I need to work with it again a few months later.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#29

Post by tmaly »

joezydeco wrote: post #21
tmaly wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that looks really nice, I have a this one https://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Computation-Letter-Sheets... but I wish it were spiral bound. Do you know if there are any US suppliers for yours?

Unfortunately, I've never seen anything like this at this price point in the US. There's Moleskine, obviously, but they're crazy expensive and the journals don't lay flat on a desktop which drives me nuts. There are grid books at art stores like Blick, but those are even more expensive. This might a be a good compromise. I should go to my local Blick and check this one out: http://www.dickblick.com/items/77825-1310/…

I use to get these fantastic blank journals that were hard cover bound back in the day from Borders Books before they went out of business. I still have a few from the late 90s. I would love to see something like that with a grid.

Re: Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?

#30

Post by paulzerkel »

I like to use a notebook for random thoughts, todo lists, and diagrams. Taking notes on paper in meetings helps me commit important details to memory and having them all in a book keeps me more organized.

I used to always buy Moleskine notebooks but have switched to Forestry Suppliers #49352 field book. It is a combo of ruled and graph paper and intended for surveyors, but it is a nice mix for developing software as well.

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