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Why a 15 minute side track actually costs an hour "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."
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I work so fast I'm always finished.
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Mrs PIEBALDconsult must be disappointed with that.
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Don't get me wrong, I can tell when she's not finished.
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I work so fast I'm always famished.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Context Switching takes time. 
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Satan has relayed a rhetorical question to be asked on this thread:
"Is it the case that programmer productivity is linearly related to depth of concentration/absorption in coding ?"
While I hesitate, for evil reasons, to explicate Satan's words, I would guess that would translate into asking something like: are some programmers equally/more productive in a high-interrupt environment ?
«I'm asked why doesn't C# implement feature X all the time. The answer's always the same: because no one ever designed, specified, implemented, tested, documented, shipped that feature. All six of those things are necessary to make a feature happen. They all cost huge amounts of time, effort and money.» Eric Lippert, Microsoft, 2009
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Of course Satan is only trying to confuse your mind! Because he's afraid of the science in the blog post!
(FWIW, if it isn't clear the "work progress" in the highly scientific charts is measured in "dozens of baby seals culled".)
---
"Don't interrupt us" is a message that bears repeating - insasmuch as it's right to the best of our knowledge.
However, we as a profession have a tendency to believe in fantastic stories: how being interrupted derailed my project etc.
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BillWoodruff wrote: "Is it the case that programmer productivity is linearly related to depth of
concentration/absorption in coding ?"
I think that may be backward -- concentration/absorption flows from productivity.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote: concentration/absorption flows from productivity.
That's a very interesting hypothesis. I think William James, who said that we feel sadness because we cry, and humor because we are laughing, might have signed-on for that.
In this area (concentration, absorption, produtivity, and "mental state") I am most impressed by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work on "flow," and "peak mental states" [^].
In my experience with other programmers, I have seen a variety of types of personalities with very different levels of tolerance and reactivity to "frequency of interruption," and very different patterns of "warming-up" to concentrated mental activity.
«I'm asked why doesn't C# implement feature X all the time. The answer's always the same: because no one ever designed, specified, implemented, tested, documented, shipped that feature. All six of those things are necessary to make a feature happen. They all cost huge amounts of time, effort and money.» Eric Lippert, Microsoft, 2009
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The programmer never lies. If he says 15 minutes, its 15 minutes, but he doesn't specify if they are Earth's 15 mins. Anyway its just boring details 
Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true
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Argonia wrote: Anyway its just boring details
I have noticed that this phrase seems to be a mantra used in the religion of short-attention=span.
«I'm asked why doesn't C# implement feature X all the time. The answer's always the same: because no one ever designed, specified, implemented, tested, documented, shipped that feature. All six of those things are necessary to make a feature happen. They all cost huge amounts of time, effort and money.» Eric Lippert, Microsoft, 2009
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oohh.. shiny...
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Mileage may vary...resuming tasks after interruption is something we can get better at.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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On the contrary. Work is often an interruption to the momentum of enjoying life, albeit a necessary one so one can get back to the momentum of living.
We would do well to remember that.
Marc
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For most of us, technical interviews are the worst part of getting a new job: Not only does the interviewer ask challenging questions, but sometimes those questions don’t even make sense in the context of the job you want. Because manholes are round.
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Kent Sharkey wrote: Because manholes are round.
 That's the answer I gave. And the interviewer liked it!
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
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Kent Sharkey wrote: How to answer any technical interview question
Right is a good start;
sometimes those questions don’t even make sense in the context of the job you want.
Then debate. Point out why the question doesn't make sense. If he approves you've done right, if he doesn't you already know you're not cut out for THAT job.
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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Kent Sharkey wrote: Because manholes are round
* Because humans are broadly speaking cylindrical in shape
* Because cast iron is expensive
* Because a spherical cross-section pipe withstands more pressure than a square pipe
* Because cast iron manhole covers are really heavy so being able to roll them is a bonus
...
in fact the only incorrect answer is the "to stop it falling through" one given to non engineers in whatever passes for education in their world, because if the manhole does not have a lip then a circle is the only shape that is guaranteed to fall through as any angle. 
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IBM is expanding its roster of Watson online services that can be deployed by developers to enhance their apps with analysis and data processing capabilities. "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot."
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Werner Koch’s code powers the email encryption programs around the world. If only somebody would pay him for the work. "An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is also more nourishing."
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If you're an Android, iOS or Mac user who doesn't like the stock calendar app on your platform, you've probably tried (or at least heard of) Sunrise, whose socially-savvy software often fills in the feature gaps Microsoft bought the sunrise? Oh great, now it's going to BSOD, and we'll all die.
Oh wait. The Sunrise app. Nevermind.
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When you think everything Google does is a calculation made by some behind the scenes AI, Matt reminds us that it’s humans making these decisions and they generally just do the best they can. How to deposit enormous cheques?
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"What if instead of using all that energy to keep the servers cool we instead focused on capturing, thermally storing, and reusing the heat from the servers?" Put a couple high end graphics cards in there. Mission accomplished.
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There is no correlation between the amount of heat required at any given time in a house and the amount of computing - therefore there will be some time when the the computer is only on to provide heat and some times when the heat has to be dumped while the computing is needed. Net effect - no polar bears will be saved.
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