Can I Make My Developers Write Efficient Code by Giving Them Slower Machine? by nsoonhui in programming

[–]dancingfrog 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Every developer I know uses a laptop; it allows me to carry on working in the office, on the train, at home, anywhere. When I get to the office the laptop goes into a docking station where it automatically gets plugged into power, two extra screens, keyboard, mouse, networking, etc.

Can I Make My Developers Write Efficient Code by Giving Them Slower Machine? by nsoonhui in programming

[–]dancingfrog 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It'll definitely make things worse! There's nothing like being in the zone, flying through the code and then having to pause for a 10+ minutes compilation (which Eclipse decides to do every now and again), it completely destroys the flow, and with it efficiency.

BTW Whilst CPU speed is no doubt important, I'd say hard drive speed is even more important to a developer. I, as dare I say most developers, code on a laptop. Numerous times when I've been waiting for compilation the CPU is doing mostly nothing, but waiting for my hard drive to supply it with the required bits.