software engineering Does anyone else break their code at the end of the work day so they know where to start in the morning?

[infinitenothing]

Does anyone else break their code so it won't compile at the end of the work day so that the next morning you open your project and follow the broken run arrow to what you were doing?

[chris754]

No. Interesting idea. In 2013 and up you could just create a note with a # tag... But otherwise I just navigate the old-fashioned way.

[crossrulz]

Bookmarks is the way to go for this.

[infinitenothing]

I agree it's a good use case for bookmarks. However, it requires that I remember to check bookmarks at the start. I tend to be in autopilot in the morning.

[hooovahh]

I agree with bookmarking, but to be honest I do this.  The most common way for me to break a VI will be to double click white space on the BD to start a wire, then double click some other spot to end the wire.  I've talked to some developers who didn't know you could do this, but then again how often do you want to start or stop a wire that isn't connected to anything.

[ShaunR]

What a bizarre workflow.  Are many people doing this?

 

I leave code at - what could you call them? micro checkpoints?. Points in the day to day development that you can draw a line under and say "that bit is working". Maybe not enough of a leap forward to warrant a commit or tick off a milestone. Maybe even a test to "see if it flies" sort of thing, but a meaningful juncture in the development. If it means I have to go and have a coffee or chat with other developers for 1/2 an hour before the end of day-so be it. If it means an extra hour or so after the end of day, so be it. I suppose if you are a militant clock watcher, then I guess you just drop your tools when the bell rings regardless of the state of the code. I don't have any issues remembering where I am in the code on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis but for commits and at the end end of day, the code is never broken and the recently used lists usually has the last VIs and projects I was fiddling with..

 

It reminds me of an argument I had once about the trunk in SVN. A colleague said that it was ok for the trunk to be broken and waved some kind of book in my face that apparently was the word of god on the subject. My position was that he he was nuts and should stay away from my repositories but I fell short of telling him what I would do with the book if he broke any of my repository trunks

Edited December 28, 2014 by ShaunR

[Michael Aivaliotis]

I'm starting to use bookmarks more and more these days. I just wish it were more efficient. It hinders me rather than helps me. The concept and idea is great but the execution is bad. We need more tools from NI to help us develop and manage our workflow more efficiently. - still waiting.

 

But to your question. Ya, breaking code to force a broken arrow that you have to follow, is common practice. You're not the only one. However committing broken code to the repo in a team environment is not recommended. It will cause some conflicts, and not the code development kind. 

[infinitenothing]

I'd rather have broken code in the repo than code that works 80% of the time or a missing subVI. My most common "break" is to leave some simple minded wiring TBD as a nice warmup for the next morning

[eberaud]

I always have a draft notebook and a pen next to my keyboard. If I need to stop what I am doing because of an agenda constraint, I usually write down a few words that will remind me where to resume my work the next morning. Not super environment-friendly but that way I don't need to leave the PC on all night with the current VI opened...

[infinitenothing]

Do you ever come back to something super cryptic like "Open draft update node" and are like "WTF does that mean?"

[hooovahh]

I had a white board that I would write bullet points on before leaving work.  Even 18 hours later these would some times not make sense, but most of the time it was just enough of a reminder to jog my memory.

[eberaud]

Same thing, my quickly jotted notes are the sparks that revives the fire in the morning