Is that common to have a programmer have a notepad in front of him/her keep track of code that was modified (ie: list before and after code comparison, line location from the IDE)?

I figure if someone modifies something, there might be a chance something else might break in a different area of the program. So this would be a good way to revert the issue.

I never worked in the industry. I am still a CS undergraduate but I was curious about whether or not this is actually how it works in industry.

There's a whole set of software tools known as version control (or "revision control") which solve this problem far more powerfully than doing it by hand.

Interesting.

Yeah use software to track changes (also called source control). I'm surprised they don't teach you about that in uni. SVN and SourceSafe are 2 I have used in the past (Git has been mentioned too, not used it).

I'm a firm believer in notepads though, notepads don't crash and lose your data. Best notepads are hardbound and you can't rip pages out. Always keep your old notepads. It's also best to date each entry. (Not "sexy time" date, calendar date).

EDIT: Biggest problem with notepads is illegible writing ;)

What course do they teach about source control? I'm a CS undergraduate and I am taking 2 CS Classes this semester: Computer Architecture and Discrete Structures.

As this thread is relevant, and recent: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/650027-version-control-and-programming-with-a-team/

Yeah use software to track changes (also called source control). I'm surprised they don't teach you about that in uni. SVN and SourceSafe are 2 I have used in the past (Git has been mentioned too, not used it).

I'm a firm believer in notepads though, notepads don't crash and lose your data. Best notepads are hardbound and you can't rip pages out. Always keep your old notepads. It's also best to date each entry. (Not "sexy time" date, calendar date).

EDIT: Biggest problem with notepads is illegible writing ;)

What course do they teach about source control? I'm a CS undergraduate and I am taking 2 CS Classes this semester: Computer Architecture and Discrete Structures.

there are usually no courses directly related to source control, however it will often be used in larger practical excercises.

In any case, beside git and svn you could also check out (vcs pun, yay!) perforce, which is quite commonly used in industry and free for up to 20(?) users.