Software Engineers should keep lab notebooks
blog.nelhage.com3 pointsby jammycakes0 comments
var myFile = File.Open(filename);
try {
while ((var s = file.ReadLine()) != null) {
var entity = ProcessLine(s);
// do whatever you need to do to entity
}
}
finally {
myFile.Dispose();
}
using (var myFile = File.Open(filename)) {
while ((var s = file.ReadLine()) != null) {
ProcessLine(s);
// do whatever you need to do to entity
}
}
The cases where I've experienced problems with feature toggles have been where we thought we were swapping out all the functionality but it later turned out that due to some subtleties or nuances with the system that we weren't familiar with, we had overlooked something or other.
Feature toggles sound like a less painful way of managing changes, but you really need to have a disciplined team, a well architected codebase, comprehensive test coverage and a solid switching infrastructure to avoid getting into trouble with them. My personal recommendation is to ask the question, "What would be the damage that would happen if this feature were switched on prematurely?" and if it's not a risk you're prepared to take, that's when to move to a separate branch.