Ask HN: Leaving Code on a Good Note?

2 pointsgrafelic1 comment

I find it easier to get back to code, when leaving a complex feature in a semi-completed, but non-breaking, state. This makes coming back to the code easier and the shower-problem-solving flows easier that way, the opposite makes it harder to think about what I actually wish to achieve with said feature. Is this something you can relate to?

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Yes, I think this is an important skill that engineers learn. Restarting work on a very broken code base can be a mess of remembering all the context of which parts work and what you needed to still do.

I've found that breaking tasks into smaller chunks and trying to complete the code one chunk at a time works better. Estimating how long a chunk will take and checking against the time before the next interruption is the next step.

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