3 ms·

This is really true. Back then we were still using CVS, and I was writing a feature that I thought wasn't quite big enough to branch and remerge for, but turned

This is really true. Back then we were still using CVS, and I was writing a feature that I thought wasn't quite big enough to branch and remerge for, but turned out to be a bit more involved to get right than I'd thought. Now we're on Mercurial and life is better. Edit: A nice win with the Linode is that they back it up for me for $5 a month. Sure, there are solutions for the desktop too, but somehow I never got around to using one of those.

raganwald 15y ago
There are two kinds of programmers: Those who’ve earned their experience the hard way, and insufferable know-it-alls who parrot whatever was in the last witty blog post they read. There’s zero shame in being the first kind :-)
- marxidad 15y ago
  And one shame in being the other : P
- zachleat 15y ago
  What's the URL to the blog post where you read this? :)
  - raganwald 15y ago
    http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 :-P
    - pferdefleisch 15y ago
      i think i'm in a wormhole!
    - AbyCodes 15y ago
      Recursion abuse!
jerf 15y ago
I would observe that with DVCS, if your hard drive crashes you can still lose several days of unpushed code, too. I recommend and use cron jobs to push and/or rysnc things around on a more frequent basis for my really important stuff.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- gujk 15y ago
  You could buy a second hard drive and put it behind your other drive and occasionally copy important files from your front drive up to your back drive.
  - BonoboBoner 15y ago
    Or use TimeMachine if you are on a Mac.
    - wizard_2 15y ago
      No, if TimeMachine screws up a file it stays screwed up for ever after every backup, there's no integrity checking. It also completly barfs on large files that change little by little. The best example of that is the entourage mail store, but any single file db will do. I've seen clients bit bad by these problems. Don't get me started on the time capsule...
      - chernevik 15y ago
        What should we use instead?
        dman 15y ago
        Linus's solution is to write software that people run and use daily.
        wtallis 15y ago
scott_s 15y ago
It's more difficult to setup, but it's wonderful to have a dedicated development cluster. Put everyone's home directory on a dedicated file server, which uses NSF to be global to the cluster. Then you can do automated backups on the file server - hourly, nightly, monthly, whatever. There are file server appliances which are configured for this sort of thing. When you do this, much less important data is stored locally, on developer's actual machines.
j45 15y ago
Thanks for sharing. Did you consider switching to a smaller laptop like a Macbook Air / Netbook?
- moconnor 15y ago
  No, I wanted to try something radical and crazy and new. Frankly, I expected to be back on my MacBook by now. This has been as much a surprise to me as anyone!
  - j45 15y ago
    I tried out an iPad app called Koder, it was nice but still lacked some things. Your post has got me wondering about Vim again.. :) Making the switch to Sublime Text has got me appreciating a more shell-like interface for some things. Have you ever found yourself wanting to code and not have an internet connection? I think that's a pretty rare scenario, I'm rarely offline.
    - moconnor 15y ago
      I haven't wanted to code offline for months. Maybe if I flew for more than two hours I'd miss it. Even the trains have wifi in Germany. The few times I have wanted to code offline, I've also wanted to look something up >.<
      - j45 15y ago
        Haha, that's really true. I rarely code offline, maybe it's just another umbilical cord that we should be examining. Between having tethering and generally ubiquitous tethering, we should be good. I think I want to try getting into VIM again. Is there a good resource site you like, where I can find a decent guide and some pointers on where to find some language dictionaries? Totally off topic but I'd appreciate it.
        danneu 15y ago
        I recommend just running "vimtutor" in terminal once you've installed Vim. It's the best introduction. Far better than the online tutorials that sometimes pop up on HN. Once I got the basics down (15 minutes in vimtutor), I noticed enough productivity gains to use it immediately for note taking and scripting. Then I just decided to jump in and use it for a real project. I learn new hotkeys, plugins, and config tricks every week and I just feel my productivity inch its way up and up.

raganwald 15y ago

There are two kinds of programmers: Those who’ve earned their experience the hard way, and insufferable know-it-alls who parrot whatever was in the last witty blog post they read. There’s zero shame in being the first kind :-)

marxidad 15y ago
And one shame in being the other : P
zachleat 15y ago
What's the URL to the blog post where you read this? :)
- raganwald 15y ago
  http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 :-P
  - pferdefleisch 15y ago
    i think i'm in a wormhole!
  - AbyCodes 15y ago
    Recursion abuse!

jerf 15y ago

I would observe that with DVCS, if your hard drive crashes you can still lose several days of unpushed code, too. I recommend and use cron jobs to push and/or rysnc things around on a more frequent basis for my really important stuff.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
gujk 15y ago
You could buy a second hard drive and put it behind your other drive and occasionally copy important files from your front drive up to your back drive.
- BonoboBoner 15y ago
  Or use TimeMachine if you are on a Mac.
  - wizard_2 15y ago
    No, if TimeMachine screws up a file it stays screwed up for ever after every backup, there's no integrity checking. It also completly barfs on large files that change little by little. The best example of that is the entourage mail store, but any single file db will do. I've seen clients bit bad by these problems. Don't get me started on the time capsule...
    - chernevik 15y ago
      What should we use instead?
      - dman 15y ago
        Linus's solution is to write software that people run and use daily.
      - wtallis 15y ago

scott_s 15y ago

It's more difficult to setup, but it's wonderful to have a dedicated development cluster. Put everyone's home directory on a dedicated file server, which uses NSF to be global to the cluster. Then you can do automated backups on the file server - hourly, nightly, monthly, whatever. There are file server appliances which are configured for this sort of thing. When you do this, much less important data is stored locally, on developer's actual machines.

j45 15y ago

Thanks for sharing. Did you consider switching to a smaller laptop like a Macbook Air / Netbook?

moconnor 15y ago
No, I wanted to try something radical and crazy and new. Frankly, I expected to be back on my MacBook by now. This has been as much a surprise to me as anyone!
- j45 15y ago
  I tried out an iPad app called Koder, it was nice but still lacked some things. Your post has got me wondering about Vim again.. :) Making the switch to Sublime Text has got me appreciating a more shell-like interface for some things. Have you ever found yourself wanting to code and not have an internet connection? I think that's a pretty rare scenario, I'm rarely offline.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    I haven't wanted to code offline for months. Maybe if I flew for more than two hours I'd miss it. Even the trains have wifi in Germany. The few times I have wanted to code offline, I've also wanted to look something up >.<
    - j45 15y ago
      Haha, that's really true. I rarely code offline, maybe it's just another umbilical cord that we should be examining. Between having tethering and generally ubiquitous tethering, we should be good. I think I want to try getting into VIM again. Is there a good resource site you like, where I can find a decent guide and some pointers on where to find some language dictionaries? Totally off topic but I'd appreciate it.
      - danneu 15y ago
        I recommend just running "vimtutor" in terminal once you've installed Vim. It's the best introduction. Far better than the online tutorials that sometimes pop up on HN. Once I got the basics down (15 minutes in vimtutor), I noticed enough productivity gains to use it immediately for note taking and scripting. Then I just decided to jump in and use it for a real project. I learn new hotkeys, plugins, and config tricks every week and I just feel my productivity inch its way up and up.