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
Well I have read how programmers love to have dual displays. But personally I haven't experienced it. Sort of this, I started doing from the last week. Sort of means I am using one PC and one Laptop at work. I have shifted emails and other stuffs including Databases on one and doing the development work and similar things on other. It has made my life so good that I think I might be shortly asking the management for dual monitors :-D By the way, can anyone help me with the points to put the case for dual screen in front of management? :confused: Khurram.
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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
Currently using 4 monitors (20, 24, 22, 22) because my colleague is in his holidays. I think 3 is optimal (one for explorer, winamp, skype, icq, etc., one for coding, one for testing and investigating: browser, app, other editors, etc.). But having 4 is also nice, some extra space to prevent windows overlapping, which is always a good thing.
DirectX MVP. My Blog: abi.exDream.com
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Does it require a special hardware to make it?, I heard that there is a cable to do it.
Many Graphics cards allow you to use a vga or dvi splitter and connect that to two different screens - Probably a bit cheaper than buying a second graphics card. Check that your graphics card allows for [edit] "SLI" "Dual View" [/edit] mode. I'm using a 256MB Radeon x600 Pro (plus a cable splitter) which is cheap as chips now.
**IA Computing Ltd - Neonlight
**modified on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:34
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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 done for years. :)
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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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.
I use Alt-Tab a lot as well, but I still use two monitors. I run a remote desktop connection on the left on a 19" at 1280x1024 with my time tracking and coding and my right screen is the 15" laptop screen (yuck, I miss the 17") at 1440x900 for internet, email, instant messengers, and music software. I'll view text documents on whichever one is handier at the time. The biggest advantage I find is that I always have my email inbox right in front of me at a glance no matter what I'm doing on the other screen. I tried a single screen for a bit and it really does reduce my productivity.
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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
Two 17"ers. As with others here, I use one for coding and the other for the application/website I'm developing. I can't stand things being windowed, everything I use has to be maximised. For other parts of my job it's also useful to have two word docs or spreadsheets open for comparison, it's like having one of those page stand thingys.
You don't have to be mad to live here [UK], but it helps.
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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
Others have eluded to this, but the efficiency factor depends on what you want to be efficient at. I agree that the email on the right monitor with coding on the left *will* distract you from your coding, but in my job, as I am sure is the case with many others here, my coding is often second to the other requests that I receive via email or the instant messages I get. As one of the more experienced employees in the office, I have to react to my emails as quickly as possible or risk holding up time-critical technical problems that would sometimes severely damage our clients; I'm not one of the support representatives, but when they can't figure out the answer they lean on my experience as well as my ability to dig into the code. The real answer to the question of how many monitors are most efficient for any given individual is simply "it depends." It depends on what the individual needs to allow to distract himself, if anything as well as what he must not be distracted by. It depends on how many applications the individual needs (or would like) to be able to see at a glance at any given time. It depends on whether you can dart your eyes from one monitor to the other and quickly find your place faster or slower than you can use alt+tab to switch to the necessary application and do the same thing. It depends on how many different applications you have running. But even if you take email out of the picture, there are many times when having your specifications document on one monitor and your code on the other is much more efficient than using alt+tab, most notably when you're trying to pin down a particular section and compare the specs to the code. You could alternatively put both windows on a single screen, but that limits the amount of either one that is visible. Perhaps if I had one of those 24" monitors that seem to be so popular in this thread, I could manage to live with just one, but I go bonkers when I have applications that are not full screen. I don't know why, but I always have. The first thing I do when I open notepad is maximize it, every time, without exception. Can you say OCD?
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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
I understand the flip side of this argument, but I work in a company of 5 people - 3 developers, 1 sales guy, and the boss (who also writes code). We ALL have dual monitors (including the sales guy) and turn over around £500K (about USD $1m) per year. Yeah, it's counterproductive...
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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 always see people here with their "large" 24" monitor fighting against the debugger, Visual Studio's many tool windows, documentation and instant messenger. I simply cannot understand what the advantage of using only a single monitor is, even if it is 24". I'm running fine with two 22" wide screens. Enough space to have many tool windows open, the side bar with useful plugins, a browser or documentation and when I am debugging something, the debuggee does not hide the debugger because it is on the other monitor. While it is possible to debug with one monitor, it's very inefficient and if you're debugging painting routines or full screen applications, it's a pain. Guess that's why it's called PAINting. Unfortunately, my system at work does not have a second PCIx16 slot. My home system does, though I also have only two monitors there and will most likely buy a cheap second graphics card with HDMI to have Windows Media Center on my HDTV.
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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
Yep, for many years now, been running two 19" monitors. It is a pain not having them. 1) Debugging: It is wonderful to have the debugger running on one screen while the app or web site is running on the other. Not bouncing between windows, a simple glance says it all. 2) Documentation, tutorials, resources off the net. You keep them on one monitor while you are implementing in your code or whatever on the other screen. Again no flipping around windows, just right their in plain sight. 3) In the older days, Unreal Tournament (full screen mode first person shooter game) playing on one monitor while keeping an eye out on messenger, email, ect on the other monitor. 4) It is hard to have ENOUGH desktop space. I usually have many apps going and doubling my desktop space if very valuable to me. 5) Because everyone things it is really impressive :)
Rocky <>< Recent Blog Post: Netflix, I am not so happy anymore!
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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.
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.
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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! Here's my configuration... Laptop + 17" LCD via VGA-out port Typically, on the laptop I have: a. Putty: for submitting/monitoring jobs on the supercomputing server (which as 80 CPUs) b. Notepad++ for makefiles, PBS job scripts, INI files, or Octave/GNUplot files. c. Coding: with Notepad++, Putty+VI, and/or Visual C++ 2008 Express d. Filezilla: to monitor files generated by the jobs on the server e. Explorer Window - to display image files downloaded from server, to make sure the jobs are running properly. f. MS-Dos console (sometimes) for testing code on the laptop before submitting to the server. and I typically put the following on the 17" LCD a. IE, Firefox, or Safari b. Email: Microsoft Outlook or another IE tab. c. Adobe Acrobat Pro The third monitor is on my second computer running Ubuntu with Compiz Fusion installed and the desktop cube activated. Often I test code in the Linux environment before submitting the jobs to the server. Sometimes I run extra jobs here. Having 2 (or more monitors is especially useful for coding multiple languages (C++, Fortran, Octave, GNUplot, scripting languages) and for multiple environments (debug on Windows, run on Linux).
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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
1. Try doing alt-tab when you have 15-20 windows open! 2. What happens when you need to have 2 (or 3) blocks of code side by side? 3. What if you have a laptop (which will be in landscape mode, unless it's maybe a Tablet PC), but you need portrait mode through a second monitor? 4. Very frequently, I need to have one window open (e.g. with Google/Wikipedia results, or a PDF document), while I code in a second window based on what I see in the first window.
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I tried it once and really disliked it except when I needed to debug certain types of UI issues where losing foreground caused problems (like with menus.) I now use a very nice widescreen at work and even find that to be a waste. I prefer a good old 19" CRT.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
You're one of the "hunker down" types, aren't you Joe? :-D
Software Zen:
delete this; -
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
Boss won't let you buy a second monitor, huh?
Software Zen:
delete this; -
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 always used multiple monitors, 2 preferably 3, one for code, one for testing, one for noise(documentation, emails, internet access, etc.). Now I am using multiple systems for development, one for code, one for testing (shared file system), one for noise, with only one keyboard/mouse. This keeps the clutter and crashes to a minimum. There is a slick utility from Stardock called Multiplicity which allows you to go between systems by moving your mouse off the edge of the screen onto the screen for the next system. I figure I only have so many hours in this life, so I am going to get the most bang for the buck possible. Hardware is cheap, my time is expensive.
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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
Like several others here, I have dual monitors...well, technically, I use a laptop and an external monitor in "Extended Desktop" mode. But works the same way. Anyway, I like to have code on one screen and my browser in the other. Also, a lot of the web apps my unit develops go to parallel sites we created - one for one audience in our company, the other for a different audience - so when we need to basically have a copy of a specific page on both sites, it helps when copying the code over to have an instance of VS on each screen so there's no frantic Alt-Tabbing involved.
========================= ~Events occur in real time~
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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
I'll wait for documented, varifiable, scientific proof it doesn't (which still won't matter as we meet/exceed all our goals and timelines at work, which is WHY we do what we do anyway ;) ;) ). In the mean time, I make all my developers use two, one for VS/code and the other to see what the testing/results are...as well as a second VS/Code/Project, searching Google, Email, run MS Server Management Studio, etc. My team is allowed Internet access, but the others aren't, they run 2 monitors, get thier jobs done just fine. Been using 2 for years and I find it very helpful, which I believe was the original question.
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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, I have two monitors. They're great. I use Visual Studio more than anything else. I use my lovely 21" widescreen for code, and the small laptop screen for all the other windows - solution explorer, properties etc. Sometimes I wish I had a 3rd monitor - for testing, web browsing etc. Am I more productive? It certainly feels like it. But more importantly, I am happier. At home, I keep trying to drag things onto the 2nd monitor that I have not got!
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I used to have dual-monitors which I prefer. Just one for development at home.
Blog link to be reinstated at a later date.
Absolutely...er, well sort of.... :-) I have two(2) 17-inch monitors. I ususally have all the Windows Gobbledy-Gook on one, and my Unix/C-Porgamming stuff on the other. When in "serious" devleopment mode, I do my Unit Testing on the one monitor and "tail -f logfile" the execution on the other. It does make life a little better. Even though the other monitor was the result of a "midnight-requisition"..... :-)
".... We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own . . . . Resistance is Futile . . . . You will be Assimilated . . . . . ."