Working Programmers, keeping notes

davestar_delux · 24 Jul 2009 at 22:54

hey does anyone else keep any notebooks of their programming projects and such and how do you organise all the information you have to or like to keep?

I have a large notebook at work and also a ring-binder full of programming junk to be honest, scraps of code, notes on project ideas and all sorts of stuff.

Just wondering if anyone else has a better way of organising all their information?

NickK · 24 Jul 2009 at 23:14

I used to just do everything in a day book, then if extra scribble space was required then I'd use an A4 pad.

~J~ · 24 Jul 2009 at 23:28

Electronic whiteboard captures flowcharts, ideas, notes (and cool doodles) and all stored in a project folder on the server.

SQL databases diagrams are printed off as and when they change and again stored as images in the project folder.

Visual Studio does a fantastic job of creating Class and object charts with all the variables, events and methods. (one of those features you think is a gimmick but quite practical)

Visual Studio also has the built in "Notes" section which you just add in as a Keyword in the code and it collates all the notes in a dedicated pane.

At the end of the project, it's either all printed out and stored in a ringbinder and shoved in my drawer or the directory burnt onto DVD with all the source and graphics, webpages, etc, and that's it.

davestar_delux · 24 Jul 2009 at 23:35

Ah yeah I'm thinking of more unofficial stuff like to help my programming - like common error messages - rather than all the official project stuff.

~J~ · 24 Jul 2009 at 23:49

davestar_delux said:
Ah yeah I'm thinking of more unofficial stuff like to help my programming - like common error messages - rather than all the official project stuff.

scraps of paper then and a stapler then!! never fails

dave-lew99 · 25 Jul 2009 at 15:43

Hardback notebook.

I write the date every time i write into it, and everything goes in here - design ideas, full designs, notes, contact details for a client, random IP addresses/configs etc of stuff we do.

Official design and client site documentation go into a Wiki and version controlled systems. But a notebook is impossible to do without as a quick reference.

I also use Open Workbench to manage projects on my individual scale - so if i'm tasked to work on somthing i'd break it down myself.

Oh and i have a virtual post it note application for keeping lists which change all the time - Todo lists etc.

Tripnologist · 25 Jul 2009 at 16:10

I just keep a nice little notepad on my desk and that works great for most stuff. For things like bug fixes and whatnot, I just keep it all in a text file so it's easily searchable.

NathanT · 25 Jul 2009 at 19:55

I have a small web written knowledge base on a server (and on a local web) that I keep most stuff.

My colleagues and myself can use it to IM and mail each other if were working on a joint project, works as a SVN and an bug/error tracking software. Also customers have a restricted access to their projects to track progress.

Its basically a glorified blog, were able to add multiple tags, project names (if any) and dates so that it can be indexed and shared (something we found impossible using hard copies of anything).

Also my wall around the back of my PC is nick-named the "yellow wall" due to it being wallpapered in post-it notes.