While it can be fun to make big sweeping changes, I find that silly errors are easy to catch when I keep all my changes small so here's what I do:
- When I'm working with a fast compiler, I setup a small CI system to immediately compile my code and run my tests every time I save my changes. If I can't do this for some reason then I setup a trivial background script to do this constantly and watch the output in another window.
- I try not to cut corners. It's easy to stay in the flow once I have things setup so that I can build and extend my tests and scaffolds along with my code.
- When I'm working with a fast compiler, I setup a small CI system to immediately compile my code and run my tests every time I save my changes. If I can't do this for some reason then I setup a trivial background script to do this constantly and watch the output in another window.
- I try not to cut corners. It's easy to stay in the flow once I have things setup so that I can build and extend my tests and scaffolds along with my code.
Small moves, Everest, small moves...