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Keep a programming journal

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Re: Keep a programming journal

#41

Post by getriver »

OP here. This is a pleasant surprise, I woke up this morning and saw the title and for a split second thought someone wrote the exact same post as me!

Reading the comments on here and reddit, it seems to me there are two different motivations: getting thoughts on paper vs. having a trail for future reference. Pen and paper is great for the former, which is my primary motivation.

I highly recommend you try the paper approach at least for a week to see if it helps you. Its is a hassle switching gears from keyboard to pencil, but it helps a lot. I did try various programs, but it never felt personal enough for me. Maybe its just me.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#42

Post by getriver »

autotravis wrote: post #26
asynchronous13 wrote: post #10

My background is in Electrical Engineering, and we were always taught to keep a work journal with specific features so it would be a legal document. I just figured they were trying to sell us the more expensive notebooks. That is, until some colleagues were called to court to testify in a patent challenge about the contents of their journals (regarding work from 10 years prior). I take my journal a lot more seriously…

"If the notebook is bound (can't add or remove pages), with pre-numbered pages (proves no pages added or removed)..." Does anyone know of a good place to get an inexpensive (and leatherless) one of these? I would say any notebook would work, but I haven't ran on to many with numbered pages.

Sadly I've never run into a notebook with pre-numbered pages. I did buy the Think/Create/Record for less than 4 bucks. Numbering them isn't as time consuming as you'd think them to be. Someone mentioned composition books, they're leatherless and inexpensive.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#43

Post by getriver »

wonderzombie wrote: post #40

So does anybody have tips about how to take good/useful notes? I feel like my stuff, while organized by topic, ends up being disorganized and quite ad-hoc. I feel like I'm missing out on something since I don't have any real system or technique beyond "write down stuff like you're explaining it to your future self" or some such. Maybe it's enough just to be writing all that down.

Its a trial and error process. Write down as much you can without slowing down too much and then try to read back in couple weeks and see if it makes sense. The longer the gap in betweenm the better since your memory disintegrates and you're left with just the information on the paper.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#44

Post by wonderzombie »

getriver wrote: post #43
wonderzombie wrote: post #40

So does anybody have tips about how to take good/useful notes? I feel like my stuff, while organized by topic, ends up being disorganized and quite ad-hoc. I feel like I'm missing out on something since I don't have any real system or technique beyond "write down stuff like you're explaining it to your future self" or some such. Maybe it's enough just to be writing all that down.

Its a trial and error process. Write down as much you can without slowing down too much and then try to read back in couple weeks and see if it makes sense. The longer the gap in betweenm the better since your memory disintegrates and you're left with just the information on the paper.

Its a trial and error process.

I was afraid of that. :) But yes, I see your point. I suppose it's hard to do better than: think of what your future self would need to know, providing both context (to jog your memory when possible), rationale (because that is NOT always obvious), and technical detail (both because that stuff changes and because it's better not to re-derive your previous understanding from scratch whenever possible).

Re: Keep a programming journal

#45

Post by Mystitat »

Johngibb wrote: post #37

I've been doing this as well. Does anyone have advice on pens? This is what I'm currently using and I really like them: http://amzn.com/B0027AEKJ8 they come in a 4 pack of different thicknesses, and are only $12 at Staples. I'm sure there's better however!

Zebra Sarasa. $13.24 for a dozen. http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Sarasa-Retractable-Rollerball-Bl...

Re: Keep a programming journal

#46

Post by davidcuddeback »

Johngibb wrote: post #37

I've been doing this as well. Does anyone have advice on pens? This is what I'm currently using and I really like them: http://amzn.com/B0027AEKJ8 they come in a 4 pack of different thicknesses, and are only $12 at Staples. I'm sure there's better however!

A lot of custom pens on Kickstarter use the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel cartridge. That pen seems to have a very loyal following. I've not tried it myself.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#47

Post by getriver »

keithpeter wrote: post #6
Feoh wrote: post #4

I wish the article had a bit more meat to it. Not that this is a sin but he's just parroting things said in about 1000 other places by 1000 other people. Pen and paper good. Check. Daily journal. Check.

The OP is keeping a journal, so he has developed a real practice that works for him. I agree that a few sentences describing what he puts in there would have made this article stronger. The second image of the journal page seems to show a list of possible approaches to a problem. The fourth image looks as if it has performance data and evaluation of a working system, so that is a couple of ideas. I think it is quite…

It usually goes:

* Write a todo. Ex: Log errors from Fb. * Ask a question if I'm stuck. Ex: Will Log4R block the reactor? * Play with various approaches. Ex: Write in thread, plug into Goliath's logger. * Note any bugs. Ex: Logger blah blah * Rinse and repeat.

I know its a silly example, but you get the idea. Hope that helps.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#48

Post by sgt »

I do the same thing, but the extent of my "legend" is simply the following:

"->" (random points)

"o" (random points)

"[ ]" (thing I need to do)

"[/]" (thing I need to do, in progress)

"[?]" (I don't know what to do, might revisit)

"[-]" (Not going to do this one, maybe it became redundant)

This helps me a lot to line up my thoughts and know where I am. However, I really like the legend as described by OP, so I might change mine towards that approach.

Re: Keep a programming journal

#49

Post by sgt »

Mystitat wrote: post #45
Johngibb wrote: post #37

I've been doing this as well. Does anyone have advice on pens? This is what I'm currently using and I really like them: http://amzn.com/B0027AEKJ8 they come in a 4 pack of different thicknesses, and are only $12 at Staples. I'm sure there's better however!

Zebra Sarasa. $13.24 for a dozen. http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Sarasa-Retractable-Rollerball-Bl...

$13.24 for a pen. Seriously I want one, but I'd chain mine up to my desk, because people tend to grab any pen they see!

Re: Keep a programming journal

#50

Post by notJim »

babarock wrote: post #2

As long as we're on this subject, I'd like to strongly encourage programmers to adopt a "pen-and-paper" approach to problem solving. Just like mentionned in the article, there are great benefits coming from actually writing down the problem. For the past year or so, every time I worked on a non-trivial problem, I did it on a sheet of paper. It definitely took discipline at first but now I couldn't do it any other way…

> "One second of CPU time per day" got me thinking. Sure there are benefits to having modernly cheap computers, but how did they do it before?

By this argument, do you also pay your bills manually by check at the end of each month? And book all your air travel by calling a travel agent?

There's nothing wrong with trying these things to see what advantage they have, but advocating the old ways of doing things purely because they're old seems more like religion than science to me.

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