Track the amount of code written daily

Tracking the amount of code written daily can be a powerful way to monitor productivity, identify patterns, and improve coding habits. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to effectively track your daily coding output:

Methods to Track Daily Code Written

1. Using Version Control Systems (Git)

• Commit Counting: Track the number of commits you make each day. Although commits don’t always represent lines of code, frequent commits often correlate with steady progress.

• Lines of Code (LOC) Added/Deleted: Use Git commands to see how many lines were added or removed each day.

  • Example:

    bash
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    git log --since=1.day --pretty=tformat: --numstat | awk '{ add += $1; subs += $2; loc += $1 - $2 } END { print "Added lines:", add, "Removed lines:", subs, "Net lines:", loc }'
    

• Commit Message Review: Analyze the content of commit messages to estimate the complexity or significance of changes.

2. Automated Tools and Extensions

• WakaTime: A popular plugin for many IDEs that tracks coding activity by language, project, and time spent.

• Code Time: Another plugin that provides detailed insights on daily coding time and code written.

• GitHub Insights: If you push code to GitHub, GitHub provides graphs showing commits per day, which indirectly reflects activity.

3. Manual Tracking with Scripts

• Write custom scripts that count lines of code in your working directory daily.

• Use tools like cloc (Count Lines of Code) to generate daily reports.

  • Example command:

    bash
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    cloc --by-file --csv --out=cloc_report.csv .
    

  • Then track changes in cloc_report.csv over days.

4. IDE Built-in Statistics

• Some IDEs, like JetBrains’ IntelliJ or VSCode, have built-in or extension-based stats on lines added/removed per session or day.

Best Practices for Meaningful Tracking

• Combine Metrics: Don’t rely only on lines of code. Sometimes less code means better quality.

• Track Time Spent vs. Output: Track how much time you spend coding alongside lines written.

• Focus on Quality: Consider code complexity, refactoring, and bug fixes which might reduce LOC but improve quality.

• Automate Tracking: Use tools or scripts to avoid manual tracking overhead.

• Review Regularly: Analyze trends weekly or monthly to identify peak productivity times and bottlenecks.

Sample Workflow for Daily Code Tracking Using Git and Scripts

1. Set up a daily cron job or reminder to run a script after coding sessions.

2. Use Git logs to fetch added/removed lines:

   bash
   CopyEdit
   git log --since=midnight --pretty=tformat: --numstat | awk '{ add += $1; subs += $2; loc += $1 - $2 } END { print "Date:", strftime("%Y-%m-%d"), "Added:", add, "Removed:", subs, "Net LOC:", loc }'
   

3. Store results in a CSV file to track progress over time.

4. Visualize results with spreadsheet software or data visualization tools.

Tracking code daily helps in maintaining discipline and improving your workflow, but remember to prioritize code quality and functionality over just raw numbers.