Open Radar

 
Summary:

Since ya'll keep saying "Radar or GTFO", here's a radar.

I spend too much time babysitting Xcode


Steps to Reproduce:

1) Get very excited about a project you're working on.  
2) Have dreams of implementing cool features
3) Arrange an evening off from other activities
4) Lay in a supply of Dr Pepper and Slim Jims
5) write some code
6) Try running on the device


Expected Results:

It runs on the device.  I can see the fruits of my labor.  I iterate madly.  I weave magic out of the awesomeness that is CocoaTouch.  I give a demo to a good friend, who gets really excited about the future of the product and of our collaboration.  My personal and professional credentials are maintained, if not increased


Actual Results:

1) get strange error: http://borkware.com/bnr/nochan/no-such-file.png
    That path actually exists

2) Ask uncle google.   Some stack overflow suggests waving various dead chickens.  Reboot device.  Unplug device and replug. Restart Xcode.  Reboot computer.  Lose month-long state in emacs.   Repeat a couple of times.  Yay!  Finally get past that.

3) get another strange error: http://borkware.com/bnr/nochan/error-starting.png. 

4) Ask uncle google Clean Build Folder.  Reboot device.  Uplug and replug . Restart xcode.  reboot computer (again).   ask uncle google again.  Check signing.   Look at the log in the organizer to get some clue what's going on.  The log doesn't get loaded - the window is nice and blank.  Toggle back and forth between it and other windows until something shows up.  Get it into a state where Xcode says it's running, but nothing happens on the device.  ask uncle google again.

5) Iterate with 3) for an hour or two, when suddenly "Holy crap it works now".

6) Now all my motivaton is gone.  The gumption trap has sprung.  Nothing awesome was made.  No demo.  No excitement from the people around me.  My credentials take a hit.  "My tools stopped working" can only be used as an excuse so often in the outside world.  Consume all the Dr Pepper and Slim Jims and huddle in the corner with mounting indigestion.  Hold the cat and rock back and forth gently weeping "i chose this career.  i chose this career.   i chose this career."

7) Spend half an hour writing up a radar.  Because, hey, Radar or GTFO.



Regression:

I always tend to face this problem when I return to a project I haven't touched for a long time (say 3 weeks), and I always end up losing a chunk of time to opaque errors that are only fixed through random flailing around.  These kinds of problems also plague me when I first start working on an existing project with another developer.  Given the realities of my job (basically being a free electron in a decent-size consulting shop), that happens fairly often.  It's great to be able to bill a couple of extra hours, but that's billable time that provides absolutely no value to the client.


Notes:

Rebooting the whole system while waving the dead chicken around is my biggest pain point.  I do all my editing in emacs because it's a stable development tool.  My editor uptime == machine uptime, and I build up a lot of state there, my work getting faster and faster as it warms up.  The only time it goes down is due to system updates or if I reboot because Xcode has lost its mind (again).  Pretty much the only things I use Xcode today is for a VisualMake, IB, and running apps on a device.  And it still eats up disproportionally large chunks of my life with stuff like this.