Do you use dual Monitor for Coding
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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.
Redmist77 wrote:
You can't look at two monitors at the same time so why bother?
Does just fine for me.
Redmist77 wrote:
prefer the extra desk space
Not a problem here ;P
Redmist77 wrote:
Multiple monitors are generally used by insecure kiddies that like to feel important.
I don't think so :|
"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
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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
Yes, and YES!!! I am an intermediate developer (I Think, 3 years exp, 1 year doing full projects), and it is extremely helpful to have my coding references open on my secondary screen while i code. I can look up the "help" and then code it in and not have to switch between windows. So my second monitor is like a reading pane. I read my email, browse the web, open folders and files form there and the only work i do on it is enter my project hours and tasks on that screen. It works great, when i go home and have to work on my single screen of the laptop, I seem to only get about 75% done compared to 2 screens.
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Yes, I do and love it. However, I would like to force certain apps onto one of the of the screens, is there a command (in c++) to do that. I have looked around but found nothing.
Nvidia, if you have a nvidia card they have a software solution. It can remember what window your app is on and it can add a single button into the windows main bar that when pressed moves the window to the other monitor. I used it when i had a desktop machine, just loved it. (Now I have a mobile with ATI and they don't have such a feature :( .
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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
Three. The productivity increase may be intrinsic and hard to quantify, but here is the logic behind why I do this set up. I have a central 24" widescreen, with a 20" widescreen on each side. The tools I use most are Visual Studio 2008, Sql Management Studio, Internet Explorer (or other browser), Microsoft Word, and Outlook. At times I may have any of a number of other tools running as well. These tools are pretty inter-related. I may be coding/testing in VS, but it impacts the database and sometimes, it is just nice to have the table layout or a diagram of some sort clearly viewable on one screen and the working window available in the other. At the same time, I usually have reference documentation, peer comments, or even "how-to" articles in the third. To be honest, there is a declining return the more monitors you add. Having six monitors, with my current tool set, would be unnecessary and probably counter productive. I don't have to print as much. I used to print my emails or documentation so it could be in front of me on my desk, where I could see it at all times. I don't do that at all now. Mulitple monitors vs larger monitor. One word, "fullscreen". Having VS open full screen on the central monitor, with SQL Management Studio open full screen on the second is incredible. I'm trying to save time sorting through windows. Resizing windows and organizing them on a screen is time consuming. I want to flick the window to the screen I need it in, and full size it. I don't full screen browser windows, or even Office documents. I usually do have some need for just leaving them tiled on one screen. To sum up, I have a management workstation, a laptop, and my development workstation on my L-shaped desk. (Not to mention my Laser printer and my minifridge :) They are arranged to keep the tasks I perform encapsulated into a neat and organized environment. When papers stack on my desk, items are forgotten. When they are neatly organized, more work gets done. Its the same with screens. They are cheap these days. Organize your work environment to promote maximum efficiency. Three monitors does not equal 3x's more work done. But it definitely increases efficiency by a LARGE factor.
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I do and it does help (IDE on one screen, documentation/IE/other stuff on the other). And it makes your life slightly easier while debugging (place app window on different screen than your IDE, so they don't overlap which can be extremely helpful when you debug painting code). Heck, now I'm thinking about buying third monitor... :-\
I use two. I could definitely use a third. Especially when debugging. My IDE in the center, the app being debugged on the left, and my documentation, music, and chat windows on the right. I can't imagine debugging in a single window (unless it was a shell app being debugged by GDB). When apps hit breakpoints in debuggers they don't repaint themselves which means any area the window covers is unusable. I also use multiple screens to run multiple instances of my IDE at the same time. I can be coding a control in one IDE while I am working on integration of the control into an app in a second IDE and still be able to see both sets of code side by side.
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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
Never used dual before my current job (2 years). Though it was a waste of space. Now I find it hard to live without it. I find it extreamly useful to debug my applications. I had to do this at home also so I would not go in to withdrawls. :doh: My wife thought I was crazy until I set her up with duals (laptop and LCD/TV). Now she gets upset :mad: if I want to use the LCD/TV to watch TV.
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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 have for years and shudder at the thought of coding without it. #1 benefit is documentation. I leave local copies of MSDN maximized on the second monitor. Other benefits: - makes finding the "right" API call a snap - makes it easier to figure out where to put an API call or code sample since Visual Studio is maximized on the primary monitor. - makes tracing through log files easier (ultraedit on the secondary, visual studio on the primary) - great for reading through the extra technical articles that come bundled with MSDN while some long running install, uninstall, compile, etc... is running on the primary monitor. - great for matching up the UI to spec screenshots. - great for ripping code out of the platform SDK by having visual studio open on both monitors (my project on primary, the code sample on the secondary). - great for working through any kind of tutorial or walkthrough (browser in second window, visual studio in primary window). It's a big part of why I'm so much more productive (codewise at least) than you single monitor types (j/k people, much love to all coders!) ;)
------------------ MCAD.net, MSc (CS)
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Never used dual before my current job (2 years). Though it was a waste of space. Now I find it hard to live without it. I find it extreamly useful to debug my applications. I had to do this at home also so I would not go in to withdrawls. :doh: My wife thought I was crazy until I set her up with duals (laptop and LCD/TV). Now she gets upset :mad: if I want to use the LCD/TV to watch TV.
Lesson learned. Never buy a toy for yourself if you can't afford to buy one for your spouse in short order if necessary. :-\
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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You got me all wrong on this one fortunately. I know techies are motivated by new technology that's not the point at all. We're a small company, efficiency is *everything*. There are no lengths I would not go to to improve efficiency by making sure the developer is as focused and happy as possible. But science is against the idea of multiple monitors, study after study shows that context switching is a very bad thing and despite all the high talk everyone uses to justify them I'd be willing to wager quite a sum that at least 50% of the time the second or other monitors are *not* being directly used for development purposes when someone is programming. All it takes is one flashing email notification in that right monitor to completely derail a programmers train of thought in the main monitor where they are working. So many posted here that they run email on the second monitor because they have to answer emails *while* programming! To me that is shocking and PHB-ness all the way. Any manager who doesn't understand this about programmers is a complete idiot- they need to focus to the exclusion of all else. If a programmer really thinks they can do their jobs without that intense almost trancelike focus then their job is completely redundant.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
Glad to see a boss out there that understands the concentration/focus it takes to do things well. I would be more distracted if I had email up on a second window; the desktop alert (fade-in/fade-out notification) is bad enough. I'll often turn it off temporarily if working on a particularly nasty issue (or under the gun for quick turn around). I'd say that the biggest benefit to the 2nd monitor is documentation with debugging a close second. The more I use the documentation the easier it gets to use. That translates into much greater productivity because I spend a lot less time reinventing the wheel. Less time reinventing the wheel means more time spent getting "the meat" of the project right (or at least better). There are millions of lines of code out there to do a lot of the mundane aspects of any project that never get used because developers never read the documentation. Who wants to have to interrupt what their doing to open the docs? When the docs are always open, you don't have this problem. When developers re-write things that have already been written, you're paying them to reinvent the wheel. That impacts the bottom line.
------------------ MCAD.net, MSc (CS)
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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 dual monitors at work and can't imagine how I survived without them. I don't have them at home and it's actually now a pain to get stuff done. My usual setup is VS in my left monitor and other things (web page being worked on, SQL Server Mgmt Studio, etc.) in the right window.
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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 couldn't live without a second monitor. Visual studio is fullscreen on my 22" @ 1680x1400 The notebooks 15" 1400x900 screen is for email, development app, SQL browser, ssh...
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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
At work (the job I just left after being there for a year) I used dual monitors for my coding duties and I found it helped out A LOT. I had visual studio running on one and sql server studio running on the other. I never ran dual monitors before this company and now that I've seen the benefit, I will have a harder time working with just one. Here at home I'm running on a wide screen 20.1 inch flat panel which is helpful but certainly not the same as running two 19 inch monitors side by side. Thinking back to when I bought this 20.1 inch wide screen (for home), I wish I would of had the money to buy two. Running two of these wide screens together would be incredible, I bet.
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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 concur. Just bought a 24W myself. Also running a 19" (my old monitor) as second screen. Less app switching is the main bonus me thinks. I am seriously considering buying another 24W :) (or maybe a tripple head card and two more - everyone wants a few more inches)
The only thing unpredictable about me is just how predictable I'm going to be.
I agree. I have 2 19" and less app switching makes my life alot easier. When i work from home on one screen i hate it
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Your projection is showing. It's called "confirmation bias".
celticfiddler wrote:
"confirmation bias"
Another good buzzword for my collection. But emotional-IQ-wise I suspect something simpler might be going on here. Googling (( Stanford Prison Experiment )) gets you to Wikipedia among other places. I must admit in those few situations in which I have had the upper hand over others I can see such tendencies in myself. (( Dilbert Mordac )) seems like a nice match too ! Have you ever read Joel-on-Software when he's talking about how he tries to equip his dev-team with cool kit even beyond the point of diminishing returns ? That's the other side of the coin - do you feel like family or like an "asset" at your job. Ursula LeGuin's "Four Ways to Forgiveness" I think was where I encountered this simple model: (( LeGuin Assets Owners ))
pg--az
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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
Yeah i use pc and laptop together and link the screens with free software synergy from sourceforge. I'm going to add a 3rd when i upgrade my pc. Essential for coding - source on one, help on 2nd and google on third.
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celticfiddler wrote:
"confirmation bias"
Another good buzzword for my collection. But emotional-IQ-wise I suspect something simpler might be going on here. Googling (( Stanford Prison Experiment )) gets you to Wikipedia among other places. I must admit in those few situations in which I have had the upper hand over others I can see such tendencies in myself. (( Dilbert Mordac )) seems like a nice match too ! Have you ever read Joel-on-Software when he's talking about how he tries to equip his dev-team with cool kit even beyond the point of diminishing returns ? That's the other side of the coin - do you feel like family or like an "asset" at your job. Ursula LeGuin's "Four Ways to Forgiveness" I think was where I encountered this simple model: (( LeGuin Assets Owners ))
pg--az
I subscribe to Joel-on-Software. He runs a place where I think I would enjoy working. I've seen stuff similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment. I dimly recall studying that in psychology class back in college, along with case studies on the Korea and Vietnam conflicts. We even ran an experiment along the same lines ("haves and have-nots"), with similar results. Interesting things that twist your mind around when you get elevated to PHB, which is one of the many reasons that I have resisted becoming a manager. I quit a job about 15 years ago because they insisted on giving me dominion over two direct reports, over my objections. That, of course, has been a career-limiting decision. In more than one job interview, I was asked the equivalent of "You've been a programmer for over 25 years, and you have no management experience? What's wrong with you?" The thing that is 'wrong' with me is that I see no logic in 'promoting' me from a job I love to one that I don't want to do and would probably suck at. (And there is the constantly increasing current of age discrimination, which is remarkably and refreshingly absent from my current environment.) "do you feel like family or like an "asset" at your job." Hmmm... hadn't thought of it either way, but then, like many programmers, I prefer 'communing' with my machine over socializing with my co-workers (however, today *is* Hawaiian-shirt day, as well as lunch-at-the-Chinese-restaurant-day, and I plan to participate in both this week). My current work environment is incredibly stimulating and exciting, and my management (unlike the folks I worked for at the bank) is focused on enabling and encouraging. And I kinda enjoy sippin' from the firehose. What's kinda neat is the fact that the type of software we work on requires us to replace about half of our development machines each year. Much nicer than having to put up with hand-me-downs because there is no budget for PCs. Or having a purchase of a $100 utility refused because "we can do without it." Oh, well, time to go to work... Something I look forward to, for a change.
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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 consider dual monitors mandatory for serious development (and even general use). For development working in one monitor with VS while having documentation, sample code or even tertiary VS windows open on the other is great. It also makes debugging paint/DirectX code easier as you can put your app on a secondary monitor and test it without having to fight for screen realestate. VS.Next is suppose to have some very useful new features to support multiple monitors. It would be nice if you could split a document view across two monitors. Right now it is limited to splitting within the same window (or having multiple windows open) so trying to compare two files can be a little annoying. Another interesting benefit is that for apps that take over the screen (like DirectX) you can still get to Task Manager/VS on the secondary monitor. The secondary monitor is also handy for holding those progress/notification windows that are so popular these days. You know when you're waiting for something to download but you still have to get some work done. Finally note that in Vista the sidebar and the XP/Vista task bar can be positioned to any window. Therefore I find it handy to keep the clock and CPU temps on the sidebar on a secondary monitor while I use my main monitor for full screen work. One monitor can do that as well but full screen is full screen so anything on the screen is going to be covered when you go full screen unless you've configured the window to be on top. As an aside most people seem to use multi monitors as two separate screens but most cards also support a single unified screen or cloning. Cloning can be handy when you need to talk to someone about code as you can clone your desktop to another monitor so they don't have to hover over your shoulder and drowl.
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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 4 monitors (1600x1200 20") and it helps quite a bit with the kind of work I do. I work with many VS solutions and often average about 7-14 open at a time depending on what I'm doing (right now I have 11), often debugging between 2 or so. I also typically devote 1 screen to a big log window or testing apps, 1 to docs / web browsing / email, and 1 to system monitors and a MindManager map with hyperlinks to quickly navigate everything (I have 20+ solutions total (each with many projects), and digging thru directory trees in Explorer got old.) The 4th helps but I have mainly have it because it was just sitting around (and because it helps my tan), but having less than 3 would slow me down in my job. When I'm coding elsewhere with only one solution at a time, working with 1 monitor is often fine, although it's nice to have a 2nd.