Kristina D. H. Anderson wrote: > Hi Bev, > > Another good tip someone gave me is to train yourself to automatically > back up any file by adding the date in format _20090826 to the filename > before you edit or overwrite it, and that way you can always roll back > your files and have a day by day history of the code. > > Again like with your log file, it will grow and soon you will have 16 > different copies of each active file on your test server. But it's > simple, free and most importantly EASY TO INSTALL :)
Hi Kristina, LOL, yep, that type of revision control is definitely the easiest to install! I've actually been using that method for years with HTML files, but I'm finding it to be a PITA when working with PHP. One reason is that when I have a lot of files with similar names it's far too easy to select & edit the wrong one (even though I keep a /_trash dir in an attempt to manage the older stuff). Another reason is that if I haven't been working on a project for a few days, it's hard to remember what I was doing with a particular version of a file unless I also add some sort of description to its name. So I end up with things like customer_edit_dd_filter_2009-08-26.php and customer_edit_table_sort_2009-08-26.php. Ugh. Last but not least, because of my inexperience, it's rare for me to only have one version of a file on a given day. So even without the descriptions added to the file names, I'd still end up with things like customer_edit_2009-08-26.php, customer_edit_2009-08-26_2.php, customer_edit_2009-08-26_3.php, and so on. It gets REALLY confusing. Luckily, I make weekly backups to an external drive, so I've never made a mess that I couldn't recover from, but still...I've wasted a LOT of time trying to figure out where I was and get a file back to a usable state, you know? I think it's definitely time for me to buckle down move on to some sort of VCS--I figure however steep the learning curve might be, it can't be worse than the amount of time I've already lost on manual recoveries. > And in terms of tracking "to do" items, I just keep a text file in each > active project in which I keep detailed notes and to do punchlists and > etc. Thanks, that's a good idea. I tend to make my lists on paper, sticky notes, or a whiteboard. (I especially enjoy ripping sticky notes off my monitor and tossing them in the trash when something's finally done *grin*) But now that you mention it, it would probably be better to have an electronic file so I can go back & review steps I took on any given project to see what I did and how/if I might improve things. > I lack patience for stuff that is needlessly complex as I've always > been a "brute force by text editor" type of programmer. I just try to > follow the "KISS" method, and avoid as many hazards as possible. And I > would certainly hesitate to hold myself out as a "productivity guru" -- > I tend to work in fits and starts and be insanely productive some days, > and then other days it just isn't really working for me so much... I prefer simplicity too, but I freak out when my files start getting messy because I have a hard enough time keeping my thoughts organized when working with PHP & MySQL. I wish I could keep my apartment as orderly as my files... ;o) > Love Ajai's suggestion for XDebug but fear the installation > documentation may be my undoing! :) Same here! Thanks again for your help. Bev _______________________________________________ New York PHP User Group Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
