taskpad-cli – Development Roadmap

taskpad-cli is a lightweight, session-based task tracker built for the command line. It allows you to log tasks, assign priorities, and estimate completion times—all within a single terminal session.

Built as a weekend project to strengthen C++ fundamentals and Git workflows, taskpad-cli uses vectors, loops, and conditionals, while providing a practical tool for managing short-term work sessions. Future versions could evolve into a full-featured TUI app with file persistance, ncurses integration, and Pomodoro timers.

Phase 1 – Session Skeleton

• Set up main() with a while (running) loop.
• Display a session-focused menu:
  • Add Task
  • View Session Tasks
  • View Session Summary
  • Quit Session
• Use an int choice and if / else if to control logic.
• Add bool running = true; to control the loop lifecycle.

 

Phase 2 – Session Data Structures

• std::vector<std::string> tasks; → holds task names.
• std::vector<std::string> priorities; → holds Low/Medium/High for each task.
• std::vector<int> times; → holds estimated minutes per task.
• Make sure all vectors’ indices align (index i represents the same task across all three).

 

Phase 3 – Add Task (Menu Option 1)

• Prompt: “Enter task name (for this session):”
• Prompt: “Priority (Low, Medium, High):”
  • Optional: Validate input is one of the three.
• Prompt: “Estimated time (minutes):”
  • Reject negative values with an error message.
• Push values into respective vectors.
• Print: “Task added to session.”

 

Phase 4 – View Tasks (Menu Option 2)

• If empty: print “No tasks logged for this session.”
• Otherwise: loop through tasks and print:
  • Index number
  • Task name
  • Priority
  • Estimated time (min)
• Keep output clear and session-oriented.

 

Phase 5 – View Session Summary (Menu Option 3)

• If empty: print “No tasks recorded.”
• Loop to calculate:
  • Total number of tasks.
  • Total estimated time (sum of all times).
• Also loop with conditionals to track total time per priority level.
• Print a clean summary:
  • “Session Total Tasks: X”
  • “Session Total Time: Y minutes”
  • Time breakdown by priority.

 

Phase 6 – Quit Session (Menu Option 4)

• Set running = false; and print:
  • “Ending session. Goodbye!”
• Allow the program to exit gracefully.

 

Phase 7 – Input Validation

• Validate menu input: only 1–4 accepted.
• Print “Invalid choice, try again” for bad input.
• (Optional) Validate priority input and re-prompt on errors.

 

Optional Phase 8 – Session Polishing

• After viewing summary, display average time per task.
• Print a warning if total session time exceeds a chosen threshold (e.g., 480 minutes).
• Add a session start time and end time printout (use ctime later when you learn it).

 

Optional Phase 9 – Future Expansion Hooks

• Placeholder comment in code:
  • // Pomodoro feature to be added later.
• This keeps the code ready to evolve when you learn chrono and more advanced loops.