There are lessons you learn in school and there are the things you learn along the way. I’ve been developing software for 25 years, since I was 8, starting with a book called “Your First BASIC Program” that my dad bought me because we had a PC while all my friends were playing StarBlazers on their Apple IIs.
Most developers live and breath version numbers, yet there are a few that either don’t or don’t really have a good rule of thumb on what their versions should mean. There are also quite a few people that have to deal with versions that aren’t developers, such as tech support, marketing and new team members.
Ever hear the phrase, “lipstick on a pig”? It applies to a vain attempt to make something ugly look pretty, as in “putting a fresh coat of paint on that water-damaged, termite-eaten, water leaking house is like putting lipstick on a pig.”
Seems I’m reinstalling all the time and I commonly forget my global ignore pattern for svn. Here it is for future me:
*bin *obj RECYCLER Bin *.user *.suo *.dcu __history ModelSupport_* *.rsm thumbs.db This pattern is useful for Visual Studio and Delphi development, though if you’re checking in third-party Delphi components be sure you have the full source, otherwise you may need to pull the *.
A few review notes, comparing two popular automated build tools, FinalBuilder 5.0 and Automated Build Studio 2.2. These are just notes I’m making as I try and port an old WANT script (like ANT, but more focused on Delphi). I’m still trying to decide which one I like better and these notes are to help me, and possibly you, decide.