Do you use dual Monitor for Coding
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
I cannot live without multi-monitors. Since I AM the IT Department, Finance and Management, I have zero problems getting my expenses approved. Multiple monitors are so much more productive. I picked up a 24" 1920x1200 display for $300. Should have bought 5.
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Hurtling toward a government of the stupid, by the stupid, for the stupid we go. —Michelle Malkin
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How giant ? My 24 inch widescreen is amazing. I can't imagine life without it.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
yea 24. i want a high resolution.
----------------------------------------------------------- "When I first saw it, I just thought that you really, really enjoyed programming in java." - Leslie Sanford
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
I do, and it's great... I sometimes run sql server management studio on one, and VS on the other, or VS on one and my app on the other (so I can watch the screen paint, or refer to which fields have what values in etc. as I step through code etc), sometimes I have IE or MSDN help open on one monitor with a sample or some kind of documentation with VS open on the other while I code etc. Somtimes, when working in several different projects/products etc. I'll have a seperate instance of VS open on each monitor with a seperate solution in each (i.e product a on one screen and product b on the other, or the client solution for product a on one screen and the server solution on the other).
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
I have two. I used to do VS on one, and e-mail on the other, until I started to realize that outlook was interrupting me way too much. Then I turned off the desktop notifications from outlook, and moved all my solution explorer, output, watch windows, etc.... into a floating window that takes up 90% of my second monitor and.... POOF! Now I get twice as much done ;)
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Does it require a special hardware to make it?, I heard that there is a cable to do it.
For the third monitor? You just need another graphic card and motherboard with two PCIE 16X slots.
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I have three, a 24, an two 19s. The main one contains my code, if I need to read something and compare to my code, it goes on the right, where I also keep MSN windows. On the left is media player if I am using it, and various text documents, such as the one I use to keep track of my daily tasks for timesheets.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
Talk about energy efficiency!
It is said that the most complex structures built by mankind are software systems. This is not generally appreciated because most people cannot see them. Maybe that's a good thing because if we saw them as buildings, we'd deem many of them unsafe.
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
Yes. My code is on one screen, my running application on the other. My code is on one screen, The Code Project is on the other. My code is on one screen, some sample code, another project, is on the other. My Code is on one screen, SQL Server Management Studio is on the other. I want three.
Take a chill pill, Daddy-o .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
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I just(less than a week ago) upgraded from a single 19" lcd, to a pair of 22" lcds, and I can't explain how much better it is to have multiple monitors. The only problem is that now I want a third... ;)
Eric Haskins KC9JVH
Heck yeah! I have two 1920x1200 monitors and run them in portait mode. VS on one and the other is mixture of things stacked vertically. When I have to travel to a customers site with the laptop I generally bum a second lcd display from them and turn it sideways so I can simulate portrait mode. We have annual trade show's where we need two large monitors in the booth; which always trickle down to my desk after the show! I almost retained one of last years as a third. :laugh:
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
Absolutely, one 22" wide and one 19" wide. Its super for mobile apps(emulators or remote file viewer), or when building web sites(live view of page, graphics editor, script debugger). I'm always code on the left(center), apps on the right(msn,context app, or movie/email. I use the media player toolbar so my music stays handy if im playing some music or a podcast.
DrewG, MCSD .Net
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
Studies show (although which studies I no longer remember) that more screen real estate is a productivity booster for almost anybody using a computer. I like it because I do my development from a Virtual Machine and I run the VM on its own monitor. It's like having two computers.
Idaho Edokpayi
modified on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 2:06 AM
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
Yes. I'm maintaining an application that uses a ActiveX that's every seconds puts itself on top of everything... Having the development environment on a second monitor helps... a lot as the application is happiest when in full screen mode. rgds /Jonas ps. A third screen with MSDN, Codeproject and any other source of information comes also handy... The lest Alt-Tab the better:)
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
This was discussed to *death* about 2 or 3 months ago when it was the survey question of the week, this is a summary of the other side of the argument you probably won't hear from anyone else because they are not being honest with themselves: I don't and I wouldn't allow any developer working for me to use more than one monitor without providing actual measured proof that they are more efficient because all evidence is to the contrary and the great majority of studies have shown that people are far less efficient when they have more to look at. Hell you don't need a study, everyone knows this intuitively and they are fooling themselves with a lot of talk about saving mouse clicks (too lazy to event alt-tab) meanwhile losing focus on a single task at a time which is, if not at the top, very near the top of the list of most important aspects of an efficient programming environment. In the end and after *much* discussion the first time around I think it just comes down to a coolness factor for people who will never admit it and will go to any lengths to justify and rationalize it but will never actually take the time to measure the efficiency of it for themselves. That being said about 1% or less of all developers actually need multiple monitors for real time debugging and about 10% of all developers *think* they need it for the same reason and don't but also won't admit it because it's just another justification to look and feel important / cool / like their in a sci fi movie etc etc etc.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
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This was discussed to *death* about 2 or 3 months ago when it was the survey question of the week, this is a summary of the other side of the argument you probably won't hear from anyone else because they are not being honest with themselves: I don't and I wouldn't allow any developer working for me to use more than one monitor without providing actual measured proof that they are more efficient because all evidence is to the contrary and the great majority of studies have shown that people are far less efficient when they have more to look at. Hell you don't need a study, everyone knows this intuitively and they are fooling themselves with a lot of talk about saving mouse clicks (too lazy to event alt-tab) meanwhile losing focus on a single task at a time which is, if not at the top, very near the top of the list of most important aspects of an efficient programming environment. In the end and after *much* discussion the first time around I think it just comes down to a coolness factor for people who will never admit it and will go to any lengths to justify and rationalize it but will never actually take the time to measure the efficiency of it for themselves. That being said about 1% or less of all developers actually need multiple monitors for real time debugging and about 10% of all developers *think* they need it for the same reason and don't but also won't admit it because it's just another justification to look and feel important / cool / like their in a sci fi movie etc etc etc.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
There are specific cases where multiple monitors are a must, but even for technical writers, larger, higher resolution monitors boost productivity because people can see more of what they are working on. Truthfully, like any "cool" technology it will be subject to abuse and the monitors usefulness is limited by the power of the underlying hardware - my laptop is often overwhelmed if run my Virtual machine at very high resolutions. But the convenience and utility of being able to read large pages of code side by side or being able to compare reference material to code simultaneously without task switching is undeniable. The real bottleneck in my workflow is the speed is speed of perception - I need to be able to spot faults and translate high level concepts into code quickly. Being able to offload some of my work into a separate screen helps. And yeah it looks cool. Sue me!
Idaho Edokpayi
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
I use two, and can barely believe i once worked with only one. It's invaluable, because i often need to refer to many documents at once while programming. The specification for the current task, email, looking up something on Google or Wikipaedia, copying something somewhere, running tests somewhere else, plus coding. I hate having to navigate through many windows on top of one another when working. It is much more efficient multitasking with two monitors.
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
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Do you use dual monitor and how it is helping you?
Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 http://www.keencomputer.com
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This was discussed to *death* about 2 or 3 months ago when it was the survey question of the week, this is a summary of the other side of the argument you probably won't hear from anyone else because they are not being honest with themselves: I don't and I wouldn't allow any developer working for me to use more than one monitor without providing actual measured proof that they are more efficient because all evidence is to the contrary and the great majority of studies have shown that people are far less efficient when they have more to look at. Hell you don't need a study, everyone knows this intuitively and they are fooling themselves with a lot of talk about saving mouse clicks (too lazy to event alt-tab) meanwhile losing focus on a single task at a time which is, if not at the top, very near the top of the list of most important aspects of an efficient programming environment. In the end and after *much* discussion the first time around I think it just comes down to a coolness factor for people who will never admit it and will go to any lengths to justify and rationalize it but will never actually take the time to measure the efficiency of it for themselves. That being said about 1% or less of all developers actually need multiple monitors for real time debugging and about 10% of all developers *think* they need it for the same reason and don't but also won't admit it because it's just another justification to look and feel important / cool / like their in a sci fi movie etc etc etc.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
John C wrote:
all evidence is to the contrary and the great majority of studies have shown that people are far less efficient when they have more to look at
Um, a link or two please ? I appreciate the principle of "Devil's Advocate" but have never happened to run across any such evidence or studies, at least when talking about software development. It's so tough to remember what one page looked like while you flip to another, to see stuff side-by-side is so obviously superior, because you DO so often have to compare multiple pages. True I have seen studies that MULTITASKING is a bad idea, but with the multiple-related-pages-of-code the "multi" is intrinsic to the problem, it's not like the developer has a choice. Sure we would all LIKE "Utopian Modularity" in which every page of code stands alone and you really DON'T need to think of multiple pages at once - "The Pragmatic Programmer" was one nice ode to such "One fact in one place" modular elegance. Yourdon-wise, with maximal cohesion and minimal coupling you would ideally need to think about one page at a time. But not in say at least half of real-world projects - your "All" and "Great Majority" sounds almost tongue-in-cheek.
pg--az
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I have three, a 24, an two 19s. The main one contains my code, if I need to read something and compare to my code, it goes on the right, where I also keep MSN windows. On the left is media player if I am using it, and various text documents, such as the one I use to keep track of my daily tasks for timesheets.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
To me, its all about the screen resolution... My boss likes he's 19" and I like my twin 17" lcd screens. The 19" and 17" screens that we have both max out at 1280x1024. The day that I can find/afford a 17" lcd screen that can go greater than 1280x1024 I will get two. I use both my screens frequently, coding in a gui ide, debugging, working word, excel, email, web browsing, file searches, pdf files, mp3 player, talking clock, process explorers, registry trackers, calendar - and that's just what I have running at the moment - one never has enough screen real-estate... I get so upset with so-called - 'technology advancements' sometimes. Once upon a time, we had 17" crt screens that worked in much higher resolutions and then they got replaced with nice looking flat screens that take up less room and look pretty - UNTIL someone says - 'Hey, I can't fit as much as I used to - what gives...'. I am still looking for a notebook that can give good resolution as well, so far the Dell XPS M1530 can manage 1680x1050... BUT I WANT MORE...
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El Corazon wrote:
miss my quad monitor setup....
That's something I'd like to put together one of these days :)
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
I'm an elite alt-tabber. You can't look at two monitors at the same time so why bother? I also prefer the extra desk space and feel stupid wasting electricity on something that I only glance at occasionally. Multiple monitors are generally used by insecure kiddies that like to feel important.