Question

I have already asked this question on SuperUser but it was suggested there that I should ask it on SO. So here.

As a programmer, I downloads many files that includes small utilities from codeplex or google code, sample source code from code project, other free tools/utilities. Usually these files have meaningless file names. The file remains in the download folder. After some time I forget what this file is.

Is there any tool/utility to organize such files. I am looking for a tool with following features:

1. Allow me to categorize the files such as sample code, .Net utility, Java utility etc.
2. Store the information from where I downloaded this file.
3. store small description of the file.
4. List or information about the related file. Usually I save the original article with the downloaded code sample in pdf format.

Answer 1

This may not be the answer that you are looking for, but I believe a lot of that comes down to a proper directory structure. On my system, I keep all of my different projects organised by project type by directory structure. For instance, if I’m working on writing a game in C, I would store the relevant files in ~/files/projects/programming/c/games/awesome_game which I would in turn have imported into a subversion repository. I then might make some subdirectories such as mkdir -pv awesome_game/{documentation, code, notes} so that everything is organised.

It may not be very fancy, and there isn’t a special application. However, it is very flexible, and I can add directories for more info at any time. Also, when I get bored of the project, I can just delete the directory and all is done. Since it’s in svn, I can always resurrect it if I get interested again. Another advantage is that I can use any typical command line tools to search my files. That may not be so effective on a Windows system, but then that is only one of the many problems with programming in Windows.