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Getting into a place where Internet connectivity is either not available or is very spotty helps. I've done some of my best programming in trains.

Sure, not having access to documentation sucks, but not having access to HN and Twitter compensates for it well :-)




When I'm disconnected, I tend to just leave a bunch of comments in code with ONLINE in them and what I need to look up and recover my train of thought.

I then switch to working on a different part of the program, or a different program altogether, and come back to them when I'm next online.

This has worked pretty well for me so far, as long as I'm not under a time crunch.


That is a good point. Another tag like TODO and FIXME :-)

I've noticed that I eventually get "push anxiety" when I work offline for longer periods. Once we even had to do a detour on a road trip from Poland to Helsinki to stop by a colleague's office in Sweden to be able to push code I had written on the way. I guess I simply don't trust my laptop...


Push anxiety, excellent.:w I suffer from write anxiety.:w I've been helping someone learn to program,:w and as I watch him write code I feel more tense the longer he goes:w without writing his file.:w When I mentioned this as a matter of human interest,:w and as an introduction to why you should save often,:w he laughed.:w I'm quite confident I will have the last laugh on him before he truly learns that lesson.:wq


This is a great reason to get a phone capable of tethering.




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