Why I love writing commit bodies

Writing helps you think. You might even say it forces you to.

Commit messages are seen by some as the painful bit of I's to dot and T's to cross after an arduous (or simple) coding session. By others, there is a linter, and so they must hit the syntax perfectly, lest we need to rewrite the commit history.

Commit bodies are your chance to share with your team and future self just what the point of your last few minutes (hopefully) or hours have been about. What's the story? Why did you write this? What kind of problems did you encounter, and what work remains?

I've stopped writing many a commit message to go test some functionality, go clean up some implementation, or add a much needed doc string. It's the writing that triggers it. Be honest and let your gut guide you!

Writing out a body is a chance to summarize your mind on the topic, close it up, and move on. It doesn't feel that different from the pomoducky idea, and much of what my journal-all-the-time feeling does for me these days. Or maybe I just write too much? Am I addicted to Roam and knowledge-capture?