Keeping Crib Notes

• What’s the regular expression pattern for validating an e-mail address?
  
• What are the command-line switches for configuring a Windows Explorer shortcut?
  
• What are the 10 best opening hands in Texas Hold’em poker?
  

I can answer those questions in 10 seconds flat (assuming my laptop is booted up), because I maintain a series of “crib note” documents with just such information. (Currently, I use one Word doc per subject, but I’m thinking of moving it all to a personal wiki). I tend to do everything on the computer, but I know other people who handwrite such notes in an engineering notebook or keep a loose-leaf binder. Pick your poison.

The trick with any of these is figuring out what’s worthy of jotting down, and what’s not. Here are some of my criteria:

• How hard was it to find the information? How hard will it be to find it again?
  
• What’s the likelihood that I’ll need this information again? Is this already the second or third time that I’ve needed it?
  
• Is this something I’m trying to become an expert on? Will writing it down help to reinforce the lesson, even if I never need to consult the note again? (But then I’ll have the note as a backup, just in case.)
  

My notes are currently divided into 18 folders: Self Improvement, Business, Office, Home Improvement, Hardware, Reference, Hobbies, Programming (in general), plus ten specific programming topics like Java and XML.