Developers, there are Better Ways to Maintain your Notes

I have been developing applications over the past 10 years, and I admit I do not have a long term memory, especially not when it comes to remembering a piece of code or technique, I had used in my previous projects. My memory acts alien especially at times when I need to remember a code snippet for the 11th-hour kinda fixes, which I wish I had documented, instead of choosing to be lazy.

It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? ~Ronald Reagan

Many would agree that a good old notebook best serves the purpose, as it can be carried anywhere and requires only a pen/pencil to jot down your notes. However with time, we realize that paper notes becomes almost impossible to maintain (search, store, carry). I have seen some extremely-fond-of-notebook developers use a Livescribe Echo Smartpen which is a smart option, but then not everyone has that pen right?

Here are some tips to keep your developer notes in a more organized manner and make your life easier.

Tip 1:

A blog can be used as a developer’s journal. Blogging is an ultimate tool to keep your programming notes and refer to them later. Almost all popular blogs (like blogger, wordpress etc) give you an option to set up your blog for free, and with the help of plug-ins, you can even save your code snippets with syntax highlighting. Depending on how you configure it, you can choose to keep these notes to yourself or rather share your experiences with thousands of developers across the world and receive feedback on it (and also earn some extra money).

I speak out of experience. Blogging may look like a tedious thing to do initially, but once you get into the habit of recording notes in your blog, it does wonders for you later. This blog DevCurry.com is one and a half years old and there are over 600 posts here, all containing bits and pieces of our experiences, which have helped us and hundreds and thousands of developers as a reference, and will continue to do so.

Tip 2:

If you want to save only random bits of code, use an online tool called Snipplr . Snipplr lets you store your code at one place and you can share access to your code with other guys/gals at work. Another tool is Snipt where you can share your collection of frequently used commands or code snippets. If you are a Visual Studio developer, Code Snippets is something you definitely want to check out.

Tip 3:

If you are a bunch of developers looking out for a free tool to record documentation online, use ‘Wikis’.

MediaWiki is a great piece of server-based software (wikipedia uses it), designed to be used between a large team of programmers, working on the same documentation. MediaWiki stores display data in a MySQL database. You can add notes, codes, faq’s, images etc. with revisions. Here’s a sandbox to try it out.

If you are a small developer team and want to store your documentation as text files (to be reused outside the wiki), you can use DokuWiki.

If you want a wiki solution for your own personal use, you can use TiddlyWiki which is a client-side reusable personal web notebook and a collaboration tool. It is like a one page personal blog designed like a wiki and can also be used as a personal productivity tool.

Tip 4:

You can use a free software like Evernote to records your random thoughts, ideas, things to do etc. You can even access it using your phone. It also gives an option to save webpage clippings and screenshots and you can write code snippets and search them later.

Tip 5:

Apart from the tips shared above, you can use an awesome professional tool like Microsoft OneNote to store, sync, organize, style, encrypt, backup and share your notes (to yourself, over a network or internet). Check a demo video.

I hope these tips will help you organize your notes, if you already haven’t been doing so. It’s never too late to start! If you have been using a tool that has worked wonders for you, feel free to share it using the comments section.