I made a rookie error the other day while writing some code. I declared and populated some arrays in the wrong place. It’s a simple matter and could have been avoided. In part, though not completely, I blame the tool. In short my computer screen was too small and I could not see enough of the code at one time. If I had I think the problem would have jumped out at me.
The screen on my Tablet PC is (I think 13 inches). It is by far the smallest screen I’ve ever used to develop code. This is handy on an airplane when room is tight but it has its limits for developing code. So I have a solution.
When I get my office set up at home I am going to move an old unused monitor with its 20 inch screen to a desk and plug my Tablet into it when I need to write code. This will give me more of what I call my glass desktop. In fact I think I will configure the system to use the two monitors (desktop and built in) separately so I can move windows across them. I actually did this years ago when I developed software for a living. I would open the documentation on one screen and the editor on the other. Or I would run the program on one screen and have the debugger open on the second. It made me a lot more productive.
Do you have a dual monitor (or perhaps more than 2) system? How do (or would) you use it to make your program development more productive?
BTW I am in Redmond WA (Microsoft headquarters) this week and I'm keeping very busy so haven't had near enough time to take advantage of the high network bandwidth to blog. On the other hand I have been able to visit face to face with a lot of people. It's a trade off I will gladly make.