Re: the importance of keeping notes

[Dennis McMurchy <denismcm@example.com>]

On Sun, 29 Sep 1996, Jim Schweizer wrote:

	The problem is ...I forgot to write down how I did it - all
	you lurking newbies [yes, I know you're there:-)] take notes!    

  Sorry I can't help you with your scsi problem, Jim, but I will
second your advice to newbies.  Constant note-taking has saved me
hours and days of pain again and again.  I have at least twenty
volumes of Unix books at hand, and they are a wonderful resource,
but they are _no_ replacement for careful notes on what you've 
actually done and problems you've actually solved.

  My ~/systemnotes/ directory after a year running Linux on Intel
contains almost a hundred files totalling over 200K (that's a lot
of text).  And when you've spent several days figuring out how to
do something, and you think, "Well, I'll never forget how to do 
that now", don't listen to that voice - note it all down while it's
fresh (I usually keep a window open when I'm system-tinkering and
make notes as I go along).

  Last fall when I wanted to change the color of the prompt to help
me remember at a glance when I had su'ed to root (try tracking down
that kind of information in your reference books).  I referred back to
a note I had written seven or eight years earlier when I was running
System V Unix on an NEC 286.  I was able to cut the line I needed
straight from that file, and just move ahead with what I was doing.

  Believe me, these notes'll save your life time after time.  

Dennis McMurchy, 
Tojinmachi, Fukuoka

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