programmer productivity

8/14/2019 Programmer Productivity

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Programmer Productivity

By Japneet Singh



Productivity

• Defined as amount of useful workperformed over time

•Productivity is relative



Problems related to Productivity

• Due to improvement in computer interfaceto make it easy to use, developersefficiency has reduced.

• The stuff which makes computers easier to use (like GUI) also acts as a hindranceto developers trying to get bestperformance out of computers.



Principles of Productivity

• Acceleration• Focus

• Automation• Canonicality



Acceleration

• Becoming more productive by speedingthings up.

•The less you interact with your computer,the faster you can go.

• Concentrate on essence, not on ceremony



Acceleration – Launching

• Launching Pad : Usefulness of applicationlist is inversally proportional to its length – Launchers

• Example : Launchy

– Create a Windows launching pad



Acceleration – Accelerators

• Accelerators : Typing is faster than mousing – Operating System Accelerators

• Windows address bar • Windows shortcuts

– Clipboard(s) : Context switching eats time• For clipboarding in batches use clipboard stacks.• Example : CLCL

– Command history

• F8 for matching executed command search• F7 for executed command list

– Command prompt Explorer bar – “Open Command Window Here” Power Toy



Acceleration – Accelerators contd.

• Development Accelerators : Coding is text based activity. Prefer keyboard over mouse – Full screen mode in Visual Studio :

Alt+Shift+Enter – Visual Studio Keyboard shortcuts : Learn

keyboard shortcuts in context, not by reading long lists

– Code snippets• Macro Recorders



Focus

• Improve productivity by reducing clutter of environment and avoiding needless distractions

• The higher the level of concentration, thedenser the ideas



Focus – Block distractions

• Block audible distractions in your environment by listening to music usinghead phones

• Block visual distractions like E-mailnotifications, needless notifications likeballoon tips (using Tweak UI Power Toy).

• “Black out” the background :JediConcentrate• Create Quite Time



Focus - Search

• The bigger the haystack, the harder it is tofind the needle

• Use Search software to search filesystem – Example : Google Desktop Search

• Use regular expression searching featureof Visual Studio



Focus – File System Explorer

• Use rooted views – explorer /e,/root,[DirPath]

•Explorer alternatives• Use project-based shortcuts



Focus – Desktop

• Segregate your Workspace with VirtualDesktops



Automation

• Making your computer do more work for you

• Computers are designed to performsimple repetitive tasks over and over reallyfast. But, people are performing simple,repetitive tasks by hand on computers.



Automation

• Batch Files• Scripting

• Windows Power Shell• Use Selenium to walk web pages



To automate or not to automate

• Justifying automation is about return oninvestment and risk mitigation

• Ask following questions: – Will it save time in long run? – Is it prone to errors and therefore will take

time to bring it to stable state?

– Does it destroy focus? – What is the hazard of doing it wrong?• Don’t shave yaks



Canonicality

• Canonicality refers to practice of removingduplication.

• Remove duplication of information andcreate single source of information

• A canonical representation refers tosimplest form without loss of information.



Focus

• Version Control - Everything required tobuild project should reside in VersionControl (including binaries).

• Build machine – Canonical build machineshould not include development tools youuse to create the project, only the librariesand other frameworks needed to build theapplication.

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