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How do you manage code snippets? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

47 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Do you keep them in your IDE, or elsewhere? Do you have an app for that? Are they easily shared?

I realized I have no system at all but could use one to make it easier to find code I've written and might need again some day.

By snippets, I am referring to any chunk of code / text in any format or language, of any length.

Thanks!

EDIT A DAY LATER: Thanks you all! Reading all these ideas, I got inspired to create my own little web app. Wish me luck... :)

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would appretiate if someone could explain the practical utility of snippets because it just dawned on me how useful they might be.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Easy access to small snippets of code you often need, but putting them in their own library would be crazy.

Opening a file / db connection
parsing xml/json/... ,
template for unit tests,
import and initialization of framework at work.

Depending on the IDE snippets can also move parts of the code around: (intellij live templates)

variable.notnull -> if (variable != null) {... }
"text %s".format -> String.format("text %s",...)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Think about how you write code. Is it all new, or are there functions / API calls / whatever that you might re-use from time to time?

If that's possible, think about how you go find that code now. Wouldn't it be cool if you could type a short bit like, "funcA" and boom! your IDE filled in the whole function? Or, worst case, you flip over to another tool, find the snippet you want, copy and paste it into your work.

That's what I am thinking about, at least. I'm just not sure how I want to get there yet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You could just write a little terminal utility that puts the string literal of the snippet in your copy buffer with a little search and db for finding the right one and storing new ones— might have to have some weird cases for cross platform tho