6 ms·

I'm starting to understand why. It appears my workflow has the information other people would want from a git log elsewhere (test, specs, examples, etc)

kazinator 4y ago
That's right; for log messages to be useful, they have to be very disciplined. They have to stick to a certain format and then if the information you're looking for is of the kind which is provided by that schema, then they are useful. As an example, say log messages are strictly required to contain a bug database ticket number (even if they are not fixes: bug database tracks tasks too) then that is useful; you can quickly search the git log for a bug number to find all of its commits.
tuwtuwtuwtuw 4y ago
Let's say you have some code written 2 years ago. 2 months ago someone made a bug fix in the code replacing a few of the lines. How would you know from test, specs or examples which specific lines were modified and by whom? I don't get it.
- ArrayBoundCheck 4y ago
  Why would I want to do that? Usually if there's a problem I'll either write a new test or see if someone modified a test I thought was covering the case Usually people 'own' a file or part of the system so that wouldn't really be happening anyway
  - erik_seaberg 4y ago
    As I look at the top ten committers to our key service, two of us are still here, the other eight (including the lead from day one) switched teams or left the company over the last five years. Unfortunately I don’t think 27% turnover per year is unusually high in tech, so ownership isn’t a good replacement for written records.
  - tuwtuwtuwtuw 4y ago
    > Why would I want to do that? Because sometimes we can learn from history. If a mistake was made at some point it can be good to understand why. Of course you can adopt the mindset that you don't care what ended up causing a bug, but learning from mistakes is a good thing. > see if someone modified a test I thought was covering the case How do you see if someone modified the test then? I feel like we are maybe misunderstanding eachother because to me, and seemingly most other commenter here, this is such an obvious no-brainer that it seems something is lost in the communication.
    - ArrayBoundCheck 4y ago
      > Because sometimes we can learn from history. If a mistake was made at ... A commit message helping me learn anything that I didn't get from a code comment sounds like a stretch. I'm doubting this > How do you see if someone modified the test then? I feel like we are maybe misunderstanding eachother Clearly. I was suggesting I might see commit messages if I'm using git blame to find out if a case was removed from a set of test or if it never existed in the first place. But I don't see how messages would help at all in anything I do. What I'm looking for is far too specific to be in a commit message and this whole thread about using commit messages to learn sounds nonsensical.

kazinator 4y ago

That's right; for log messages to be useful, they have to be very disciplined. They have to stick to a certain format and then if the information you're looking for is of the kind which is provided by that schema, then they are useful. As an example, say log messages are strictly required to contain a bug database ticket number (even if they are not fixes: bug database tracks tasks too) then that is useful; you can quickly search the git log for a bug number to find all of its commits.

tuwtuwtuwtuw 4y ago

Let's say you have some code written 2 years ago. 2 months ago someone made a bug fix in the code replacing a few of the lines. How would you know from test, specs or examples which specific lines were modified and by whom? I don't get it.

ArrayBoundCheck 4y ago
Why would I want to do that? Usually if there's a problem I'll either write a new test or see if someone modified a test I thought was covering the case Usually people 'own' a file or part of the system so that wouldn't really be happening anyway
- erik_seaberg 4y ago
  As I look at the top ten committers to our key service, two of us are still here, the other eight (including the lead from day one) switched teams or left the company over the last five years. Unfortunately I don’t think 27% turnover per year is unusually high in tech, so ownership isn’t a good replacement for written records.
- tuwtuwtuwtuw 4y ago
  > Why would I want to do that? Because sometimes we can learn from history. If a mistake was made at some point it can be good to understand why. Of course you can adopt the mindset that you don't care what ended up causing a bug, but learning from mistakes is a good thing. > see if someone modified a test I thought was covering the case How do you see if someone modified the test then? I feel like we are maybe misunderstanding eachother because to me, and seemingly most other commenter here, this is such an obvious no-brainer that it seems something is lost in the communication.
  - ArrayBoundCheck 4y ago
    > Because sometimes we can learn from history. If a mistake was made at ... A commit message helping me learn anything that I didn't get from a code comment sounds like a stretch. I'm doubting this > How do you see if someone modified the test then? I feel like we are maybe misunderstanding eachother Clearly. I was suggesting I might see commit messages if I'm using git blame to find out if a case was removed from a set of test or if it never existed in the first place. But I don't see how messages would help at all in anything I do. What I'm looking for is far too specific to be in a commit message and this whole thread about using commit messages to learn sounds nonsensical.