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What tools do you use?
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:36 pm
by alex.barylski
I mean physical tools, like pen and paper being an obvious answer. I am always trying to get creative and find new ways of visualizing my problems, for instance today I went out and purchased a dozen 3X2 sheets of thin clear plastic. I plan on using some kind of adhesive to bind them togather then tacking it to a large white wall, voila, instant projection screen with annotation abilitiy not to mention white board. We shall see if this works in the coming days.
I was looking into dot matrix printers. Why? Cause I often print pages and pages of source code and scribble away while sitting on my couch. I find it an excellent way to solve very difficult problems. My biggest problem, is finding an affordable, new-age dot matrix printer
What tools do you use?
Cheers,
Alex
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:17 pm
by mikosiko
since you didn't specify "physical tool" for a specific objective ... this is
mine

Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:53 pm
by alex.barylski
specific objective
Usually implied :p its a preogramming forum afterall

Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:41 am
by Weirdan
PCSpectra wrote:for instance today I went out and purchased a dozen 3X2 sheets of thin clear plastic. I plan on using some kind of adhesive to bind them togather then tacking it to a large white wall, voila, instant projection screen with annotation abilitiy not to mention white board. We shall see if this works in the coming days.
In our office we used simpler (and, I guess, much cheaper) solution - painted part of the wall in the conference room with the oil-based paint. Now we use it as a whiteboard - works like a charm.
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:38 am
by VladSun
PCSpectra wrote:What tools do you use? I mean physical tools ...
My colleague

Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:37 am
by Eran
I use a new invention called a "laptop", which I can carry to the couch if I want to work from there
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:40 am
by alex.barylski
In our office we used simpler (and, I guess, much cheaper) solution - painted part of the wall in the conference room with the oil-based paint. Now we use it as a whiteboard - works like a charm.
I thought about looking into a permenent solution, but didn't think any paint would erase marker. As for cheaper, I dunno, I only paid about $3/sheet.
My colleague
People are not resources nor tools, they are people with feelings.
use a new invention called a "laptop", which I can carry to the couch if I want to work from there
I have 3 of them, problem is, computer monitors limit my view of the code to (I'm guessing) about 300-500 lines, depending on configuration. A wall I could display far more and annotate with markers, and it makes for easier collaboration I find.
Cheers,
Alex
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:48 am
by Eran
I'm not sure how much collaboration you do on your couch, in either case you can only read one line at a time, so what does 500 visible lines do for you? maybe I missed your point.
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:01 am
by Weirdan
PCSpectra wrote:I dunno, I only paid about $3/sheet.

Dozen sheets $3 each add up to $36 - paint is much cheaper (here in Ukraine, anyway).
PCSpectra wrote:
use a new invention called a "laptop", which I can carry to the couch if I want to work from there
I have 3 of them
Carrying 3 laptops is a bit unwieldy, I agree. Try using just 1

Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:28 am
by mikosiko
PCSpectra wrote:specific objective
Usually implied :p its a preogramming forum afterall

... was posted in "General Discussion" right?
"Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions." 
just saying
... and in top of that my tool can be used for :
- cut your sheets if necessary
- attach them to the wall
- take apart your dot matrix printer or put it together again
- and could be used to repair your couch too

Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:09 am
by alex.barylski
I'm not sure how much collaboration you do on your couch, in either case you can only read one line at a time, so what does 500 visible lines do for you? maybe I missed your point.
Hehe not much collaboration on my couch, that is typically where I sit with pen and paper. That being said, I frequently print several hundred lines of code and use markers, etc to locate duplicate sections with notes on how or what to merge/refactor/etc. All while sitting on the couch. Seeing hundreds of lines of code I find to be very helpful without having to scroll up and down.
Cheers,
Alex
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:48 pm
by Bill H
People are not resources nor tools, they are people with feelings.
I know some people who are definitely tools.
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:39 pm
by josh
White boards & lots of post it notes
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:07 am
by alex.barylski
I use post-it notes for things like tables and classes. I find it's just enough space (like a CRC card) and writing it once and being able to relocate them to reflect relationships is really nice. Do you do something similar or something totally different worth explaining in more detail?
Cheers,
Alex
Re: What tools do you use?
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:18 pm
by josh
I don't do CRC cards, I find them to be a waste of time with TDD, because its faster to make the change in question. If it improves the code, I commit, if it detracts from the code I revert it. No fear of breaking anything, no desire to make large design changes, just small changes over time. Never found a need for CRC cards.
Here's what my post it notes are now:
First one has installs / upgrades I need to do, about 10 of these on that post it with 5/10 done.
The next two are sales videos I need to record & place on my page.
Another one is a list of stuff that concerned me about the code but I didn't have the time to properly research at the time of noticing it. Stuff like missing tests, or potentially crappy code, etc..
Another one is a list of stuff to refactor, or features that are "todo"
Another 2 post its are songs I liked (covered front & back).
Various other slips of paper or index cards are sprawled everywhere with other things, feature ideas for future projects, bank passwords, etc...
I use Mantis for all this kind of stuff, but not all your "todos" (Example: sales videos) should go in there.