Hey Guys:

What silly little time-saving tricks do you do to help you in development? Here is one I do:

My code directory is big, with lots and lots of subfolders. So whatever project I am working on, i put a "_" at the start of its directory name, so it appears first in all the open/close dialogs and in explorer. So for example, my current project folder name is "hero", so i change it to "_hero". Saves me a couple seconds every time I need to open a file! :-)

I'd love to see more!

ah, the good ol' "_" trick :D

seriously, i just have a bunch of shortcuts to important files on my desktop. the most time-saving trick which works for me is to turn off my cable modem when i want to be productive. i often find myself opening up a browser window altough i should do some work or thinking.

I use the Visual Assist Intellisense add in for MSVC 6.0 that thing allows me to code at least a 1/3rd faster. It's invaluable. And it's shareware, so you can try it out for free.

I hate navigating too. I don't want to go through a little ceremony every time I bring up a file. I should be able to just think about it and it appears. To achieve this, I give all of my source files very short names. e.g. move.c, draw.c, drawp.c. I find that it is quicker to use alt-f, o, "move.c", enter than it is to visually cycle through open windows, or use the recent files menu.

Also, I do not have to go into the mental state of visually looking for something, which allows me to keep one extra variable in short term memory. *g*

Bringing up a file dialogue and clicking on folders and scrollbars is just insane!

My current project (CustomBar) consists of quite a bit of stuff, including multiple VS projects, so I've been using the _ trick just to organize that directory.

http://www.lizardsoft.biz/temp/cbwork.png

It's fairly explanatory. The build_ folders are where I instructed VS to place all the dlls/exes that the various projects build. All the other 300MB (not an exageration) of junk VS generates is stored in the default debug release folders it makes. The build_Debug folder is also where all the most current data files are. The entire project can be gotten just by zipped up build_Debug or build_Release. Coincidentally, I have a batch file that does just that ;)

The code_ prefixed folders hold the source trees for the major projects. code_Plugins holds folders of plugin projects and the plugins workspace. The update_ folders are archives of autoupdates that have been released. The shortcuts you see there allow any workspace to be opened without digging in folders. Using CustomBar I actually have a menu that is generated from these links to perfect the art of opening a project :D

http://www.lizardsoft.biz/temp/cbmenu.png

argh, i can't stand the _ thingy. ugly ugly ugly. ok, may be functional, but i dont think the 2 seconds i lose opening a file are that big a deal. Specially working with VC.net where you can access the files in a tree easily.

my tree is something like


project 1
project 2
+project 3
-DirectDraw
+Source Files
- projectprefixDDrawwrapper.cpp
+ Header Files
- projectprefixDDrawwrapper.hpp
-Common
+Source Files
- projectprefixDatatypes.cpp
+ Header Files
- projectprefixDatatypes.hpp


etc


Ohh i use VC.net "open last workspace when starting" so basically i only need to open vc.net and all the files are there at easy reach :) Depending on the project, I may even put the data files in the vc project in a non compiling folder.


Ohh and i have all my tree memorized, so I can within a couple seconds get to any folder or file in it.


Another nice thing is that i have one of those MS keyboards with i dont know how many extra keys. I tend to use them alot for launching my own programs (vc, calculator (this one is the key i use the most), file explorer, etc))

Originally posted by aspiral

the most time-saving trick which works for me is to turn off my cable modem when i want to be productive. i often find myself opening up a browser window altough i should do some work or thinking.

I find myself doing the same thing.... start working on my game, then somehow I find myself reading dexterity forums again... D*mn you Dexterity!! ;) But seriously, I think I may try your idea.

One thing I've started to do is schedule better. I went out to staples and bought one of those huge white board calendars and every month I fill the whole thing in with achievable short term goals that will help me meet my self-declared deadlines. I find that this helps me from straying from one part of my game to another (eg. Goal: working on nag screen, but somehow I end up coding a better alpha blending routine instead) Now whenever I get off track, I just look up at the board.... 'Oh sh*t, what am I doing.... I'm supposed to be working on my nag screen'

-Bruno

Here are two of mine:

1. Start reading email and newsgroups at 3 pm, after a full working day .. :)
2. FileEx (http://www.cottonwoodsw.com/) for all file dialogs. This speeds up my file accessing dramatically.

Codewarrior is my trick.

it opens exactly where and how i left it.

I Just launch it and ready to work, the cursor is blinking after the last word i typed last time i programmed.

The next version is supposed to program for me, can't wait for it.

pat.

Originally posted by lexaloffle
I hate navigating too. I don't want to go through a little ceremony every time I bring up a file. I should be able to just think about it and it appears.
Poor Windows users :)

When I want to open a file, I usually type the whole path. For example, /home/gabriel/devel/proyectos/bbb/resources/common/imagesrc/build.imgspec. Of course, I just need to type ~dpbrcib, pressing TAB after each letter, and autocomplete does the rest. I can access directories as fast as I think of them.

BTW, the autocomplete features in the Windows XP command line are a joke compared to Bash. And the autocomplete features of the Open File dialogs are almost inexistent!

I use a largish number of subst-ed drives to keep things arranged. but I don't go changing them from day to day to make things easier.

OS is on C:
A few spaces for actual drives

Games are on G:
Compilers are on J:
Graphic apps are on k:
Applications are on L: (anything that asks to go in program files ends up in L: )

Programming projects are on P:
Media resouces are on R:
Downloads are on X:
Zip Drive on Z:

This makes things so much easier when I buy a new hard drive or rearange things because the paths don't get screwed up when I add a drive and all the disks shuffle around.

I also have been known to set up network resources for similar jobs
interesting sidenote: Win2k won't let you access network drives if it is the only computer on the network. Even if the network Drive is on itself. This causes each of my computers to become a little incontinent when I have to re-boot the other.

For opening files from within my project(s) on VC++, I use Workspace Whiz (http://www.workspacewhiz.com). It also has a really good find tag system, too.

I use the post build options to create the install, copy files to the debug machine, etc...

I also have macros for file headers and the #ifndef/#pragma once type stuff.

I have a policy I have followed for years. If I have to do a task more than 3 times, I will take the time to create a shortcut to the task, or quick batch file,etc. to instantly do the task for me. This has worked well for me over the years.

I also find spending the time to learn the keystrokes in a program can save you tons of time in the long run. In this Windows domiinated world we seem to forget about the old keystrokes.

Originally posted by ggambett
Poor Windows users :)


I can't wait to finish the project I'm on and completely switch to Redhat...

This isn't a code-related trick, but one thing I did recently that saves me a little time was to buy a cordless optical mouse (mine was about $40 new). It doesn't need a mousepad (so it takes up less space), there's no cord to catch on things, and there's no ball to clean. The fact that it just works more reliably with no cleaning ends up saving me a bit of time.

On the same note as Steve, I recently bought a wireless keyboard as I was losing a lot of time from ripping the keyboard cord out of its plug after dropping/tripping over the keyboard, and having to try to reassemble it. Now I can leave the keyboard wherever I want and not worry that it'll drop on the ground or I'll rip it out of the computer.
Not that my computer area is that messy.. just keyboards really hate me. :p

One more productivity tip I have is to use Workspace Wiz - it makes opening files that are in the project sooo much easier; no need for shortcuts, _ naming, or anything else like that. Free yourself from the bond of your mouse (sorry, I'm an ex-emacs user - keyboard shortcuts are everything)!

Honestly, that 'unplug the cable modem' idea sounds like a smart move.. perhaps I'll yank my network cable (the cable modem is connected to the router and then directly to the hub, and I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate loosing internet connectivity for the sake of my productivity on a 'just for fun' project) this weekend and see if my productivity goes up.

If you run XP, you can use Microsoft's Powertools (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp) to modify the common places on the file dialogs (where the big buttons are--desktop, my documents, etc). I keep the most-used folders from our current project there, extremely handy.

In this Windows domiinated world we seem to forget about the old keystrokes.


I work photoshop entirely from keystrokes. It's SO much faster once you get the hang of it.

Oh, and another satisfied optical mouse user here. Changed my life, it did - well, a little bit.

Originally posted by Anthony Flack
Oh, and another satisfied optical mouse user here. Changed my life, it did - well, a little bit. Hmm, maybe I should get me one (if only they came with blue leds).

I'm a bit fanatical about having a smooth mouse. Whenever I end up playing starcraft or similar at friends' places I find that I miss the initial construction build up because 15 seconds indo the game I'm field stripping the mouse.

BTW one of my friends solved the messy desk issue by getting a trackball. You can pile stuff much higher if you can just reach your hand into it to get the ball. No mousepad or area needed.

Since the day this thread was posted, I have been trying to find silly tricks of mine. Lastly I decided that I do not have any tricks to save time, but have lot's of bad habbits to loose time and I would like to share with everyone.

1. I do quick but bad design whenever I get bored, and end up with a mess of code making me loose time.

2. When I test my game in development, I start playing and do not return back to coding until I feel sorry for the time I loose (that's sometimes 3 or more hours.)

3. When starting to code something complex, I go back to 1 or 2.

4. I sit up all night to finish some code, sleep for 2 hours, go to daily job, work for ~10 hours, go home, turn on the computer, have a look at the mess I created the night before for about 30 minutes, decide to *shift-delete*, go to bed!

5. Eat hair on the hands when coding (friends say it looks funny, but I can't stop it)

So, all with that, how can I expect to become full-time indie? They make me loose about half of my time.

ergas

:p

1. I second (or third, or fourth) the vote for using keystrokes. Even if there's no shortcut key defined, I use a lot of commands from the menus with key combinations. For example, "Alt+F+R+1" will open the first recent file in a number of programs.

2. When I run into a problem or bug coding, sometimes I have to fight the temptation to keep plugging away until I can solve it. Sometimes the best thing to do is go away and do something else. I can't believe how many difficult problems I've solved getting ready for bed, going for a walk, etc.

3. Keep a well-written todo list and stick to it!