The Code Train » phpunit http://thecodetrain.co.uk Where Neil Crosby talks about coding on the train... Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:15:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Five ways to make offline working easier http://thecodetrain.co.uk/2008/10/five-ways-to-make-offline-working-easier/ http://thecodetrain.co.uk/2008/10/five-ways-to-make-offline-working-easier/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:15:14 +0000 Neil Crosby http://thecodetrain.co.uk/?p=129 Nowadays an “always on” existence is far less of a pipe dream than it was even a year ago. Usable wireless hotspots have popped up everywhere and many of us have data tariffs on our mobile phones. It’s no surprise then that many people simply expect to always have a network connection and become flummoxed when this is taken away from them.

Not having a connection to the outside world shouldn’t be a blocker to getting work done though. On my commute to and from work I have no internet connection available to my laptop and it really doesn’t stop me from getting anything done. In fact, being disconnected from the cloud actually helps to free my mind and reduce the distractions that so often occur when I am connected.

A few people have asked me what my setup is for working on the train, so here’s a brief rundown of what I have on my laptop:

A Development Environment

For me, this is MAMP, a simple installation LAMP setup for the Mac. I personally currently run MAMP Pro, which costs money but gives me an easy interface for creating Virtual Hosts which I find very handy.

Documentation

Just as important as the development environment is the documentation to go with it. If there’s a language or tool that you use that has documentation available for it then download it – you’ll regret your decision not to if you need it and you’re away from a network connection.

Because I write a lot of PHP and it’s a little inconsistent in its naming conventions I’m constantly in and out of the documentation. I find the PHP Function Index application invaluable on the train, as it makes the PHP documentation searchable and also allows you to download and keep an offline copy of all the user comments from PHP.net.

MarsEdit

Right now I’m working in MarsEdit, the really rather nice blog entry writing tool. It allows me to write entries for multiple blogs, store them locally and sync with the blog servers when I have a network connection. It has built in support for Markdown (which matters to me) and gives a nice preview of your entries as you write them. I really wish it would let me turn on a column to show the “Post Status” of my entries though – it would make finding the half finished things so much easier.

Git

I’ve only just started using git (check out my profile on GitHub), but it’s looking like it should fit my usage nicely. Working on the train means that there are plenty of times when I solve a problem and then want to move on to a new one. With my previous setup of an SVN server on a completely separate machine I couldn’t commit my code before starting the second problem. With git though, I can commit any changes I want locally and then upload them to an external server later at my leisure. Apparently, I can even use git on the train for intermediary commits and then commit back to my normal SVN repository when I get home.

A backup network connection

Of course, there are times when you really do need a network connection and then a phone with a decent data plan really comes in handy. On those occasions though Sod’s Law will apply and you won’t have any signal. When that happens I just sit back, relax and move onto something else.

Neil Crosby also blogs at about t-shirts at I Wear Cotton, writes Ten Word Reviews, and uploads photos to flickr. You can follow a combined feed of posts at NeilCrosby.com.
]]> Nowadays an “always on” existence is far less of a pipe dream than it was even a year ago. Usable wireless hotspots have popped up everywhere and many of us have data tariffs on our mobile phones. It’s no surprise then that many people simply expect to always have a network connection and become flummoxed when this is taken away from them.

Not having a connection to the outside world shouldn’t be a blocker to getting work done though. On my commute to and from work I have no internet connection available to my laptop and it really doesn’t stop me from getting anything done. In fact, being disconnected from the cloud actually helps to free my mind and reduce the distractions that so often occur when I am connected.

A few people have asked me what my setup is for working on the train, so here’s a brief rundown of what I have on my laptop:

A Development Environment

For me, this is MAMP, a simple installation LAMP setup for the Mac. I personally currently run MAMP Pro, which costs money but gives me an easy interface for creating Virtual Hosts which I find very handy.

Documentation

Just as important as the development environment is the documentation to go with it. If there’s a language or tool that you use that has documentation available for it then download it – you’ll regret your decision not to if you need it and you’re away from a network connection.

Because I write a lot of PHP and it’s a little inconsistent in its naming conventions I’m constantly in and out of the documentation. I find the PHP Function Index application invaluable on the train, as it makes the PHP documentation searchable and also allows you to download and keep an offline copy of all the user comments from PHP.net.

MarsEdit

Right now I’m working in MarsEdit, the really rather nice blog entry writing tool. It allows me to write entries for multiple blogs, store them locally and sync with the blog servers when I have a network connection. It has built in support for Markdown (which matters to me) and gives a nice preview of your entries as you write them. I really wish it would let me turn on a column to show the “Post Status” of my entries though – it would make finding the half finished things so much easier.

Git

I’ve only just started using git (check out my profile on GitHub), but it’s looking like it should fit my usage nicely. Working on the train means that there are plenty of times when I solve a problem and then want to move on to a new one. With my previous setup of an SVN server on a completely separate machine I couldn’t commit my code before starting the second problem. With git though, I can commit any changes I want locally and then upload them to an external server later at my leisure. Apparently, I can even use git on the train for intermediary commits and then commit back to my normal SVN repository when I get home.

A backup network connection

Of course, there are times when you really do need a network connection and then a phone with a decent data plan really comes in handy. On those occasions though Sod’s Law will apply and you won’t have any signal. When that happens I just sit back, relax and move onto something else.

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