How could I forget that I already built something?

[Borg]

I'm working on a software project that has a bug that cropped up in the last 8 months. I had some time to kill this evening so I decided to write a program that would compare files between the old version and the new one. I've thought about writing a program like this for at least 7 or 8 years now.

So, I start looking through a directory where I keep all of my old programs for a piece of code that I wanted to use. While looking for that, I noticed a directory named File Comparer and, sure enough, I already wrote it two and a half years ago. I read through it, performed a few tests and it worked great for exactly what I wanted it for.

How could I not remember this?

 

[Evo]

I've head that geniuses are quite forgetful.

 

[Borg]

I've head that geniuses are quite forgetful.

OK, that made my day!

 

[DavidSnider]

... you know.. diff has been around since 1974 =)

 

[Borg]

... you know.. diff has been around since 1974 =)

I wanted something to examine all of the files in the project and get a list of which files have changed and also the ones that have been removed. Then I diff them.

 

[hypatia]

If you have not used the file in 2 and 1/2 years, I'm sure you allotted those memory brain cells to another purpose.

 

[Proton Soup]

maybe you did it really quick and never committed it to long-term memory

 

[Borg]

maybe you did it really quick and never committed it to long-term memory

Probably. I looked at the date stamps on the files and it looks like I didn't spend more than a few hours on it. It's still strange how I have thought about using it since then and deciding that I didn't have enough time to build it.

 

[Pythagorean]

I think it's a matter of A) how many codes you've written and B) how many times you get an idea to write a code but then never follow through. The more instances of A) and B) that occur, the more easy it would be to never remove a particular A) from the B) group when you A)'d that particular B). I also think any practiced programmer has a high rate of A) and B).