Is productivity killing your creativity? aka turn off the smart phone!

[Thorin]

http://java.dzone.com/articles/productivity-killing-your

Basically, the guy is saying that he doesn't have time for deep thoughts because whenever he has some downtime he tries to fill his head with more knowledge.  Which in turn is making it more difficult for him to come up with proper solutions to his problems (since these typically take some pondering).

I find that I come up with solutions to problems when I'm sitting on the throne, where, surprise surprise, I've got nothing to do but sit and think.

[Mr. Analog]

Sometimes I go outside and stare at the trees for 15 minutes and think about clouds, then I can come back and a lot of crap that was causing me grief solves itself.

Of course this is harder to do at the office as there is no park area within 5 blocks, thank you very much City of Pavemonton

[Lazybones]

I surf forums to clear my head... lol...

Often I find solutions, or find problems with plans sometime in the evening often when driving oddly enough...

[Darren Dirt]

http://java.dzone.com/articles/productivity-killing-your

oops, sorry for the timesink guys! my fault...

but gotta admit, on that site there is both "helpful, thought-provoking" articles, as well as smile-inducers:
http://java.dzone.com/news/comments-are-losers-2
cf. http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2011/07/funny-source-code-comments.html

[Thorin]

City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.

Surfing forums to clear head - I find that doesn't clear my head as I'm now thinking about whatever's on the forums.  In other words, it's a distraction, not a chance to let the mind wander.

Figuring out solutions while driving - that's the point this article is basically making; when you stop trying to get more input (reading, mostly) your mind has time to wander and it starts connecting things.

Timesink - well, it was the first link off that other article from that site, so not sure it can be considered a timesink for me.  Whereas TVTropes or minecraftwiki.net, I'll forget to even breathe until I almost pass out.

[Mr. Analog]

There's only one way to tell if a comment is useful:

It tells you what the code does not how it does it

All other stuff delete.

Also if a TODO tag has been in source code for more than a year, delete it, you'll never EVER do it.

Also, people comment out code blocks because they think they'll "need" that block later, you never will. Delete it.

Similarly, people think self-documenting code means "be as verbose as possible" absolutely not the case.

-DON'T put the data type in the name

Code Select Expand

int numberOfButts = 0; //WTF, I already know it's a number you dummy

-DON'T use the Class name in class accessors (fields, properties, methods, etc)

Code Select Expand

var circle = new Circle();
var x = circle.GetCircleX();
if (circle.IsCircleRound()) {
    circle.SetCircleCircleSetting(otherCircle);  //hngggggh!
}

Classes are Nouns, Methods are Verbs

Code Select Expand

if (butt.Spank()) {
    person.Scream();
    person.CallPolice();
}

[Mr. Analog]

City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.

And yet we have the largest connected series of urban parkland in North America^*

Too bad it's so flipping hard to get to from downtown...

Oh yeah, best code comment ever encountered:

Code Select Expand

//drunk, fix later

[Darren Dirt]

Timesink - well, it was the first link off that other article from that site, so not sure it can be considered a timesink for me.  Whereas TVTropes or minecraftwiki.net, I'll forget to even breathe until I almost pass out.

Then perhaps you haven't found geektastic things linked off the main page and/or articles like
Algorithm Of The Week

Figuring out solutions while driving - that's the point this article is basically making; when you stop trying to get more input (reading, mostly) your mind has time to wander and it starts connecting things.

So you're saying most of the people of the world would be less miserable and more creatingy if they just lowered the size of their brain cache...

And yet we have the largest connected series of urban parkland in North America^*

Too bad it's so flipping hard to get to from downtown...

ummm... http://www.google.com/search?q=images+edmonton+river+valley+stairs

[Mr. Analog]

Have you ever, in your life, used those stairs more than once or twice?

Our waterfront development is an utter joke.

[Lazybones]

City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.

Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.

[Mr. Analog]

City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.

Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.

I never bought that argument, particularly when you see how much patching up they have to do on the concrete nearly continuously.

[Tom]

City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.

Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.

I never bought that argument, particularly when you see how much patching up they have to do on the concrete nearly continuously.

They did spend A LOT on patching up the grass several times a year. I think at least with the cement they can keep the square open, rather than closing the whole thing for a couple weeks to put down new sod. Not that I was in favour of the paving. Thought it was stupid.

[Thorin]

They could've easily put in a few raised grass terraces along the side, or small trees, or stuff like that.  You know, flora.

[Darren Dirt]

back on topic (sorta), productivity... efficiency... coding...

Latency numbers every programmer should know
http://architects.dzone.com/articles/every-programmer-should-know

http://i.imgur.com/k0t1e.png visual depictions (reminds me of the $ think that xkcd did a while ago)

[Tom]

They could've easily put in a few raised grass terraces along the side, or small trees, or stuff like that.  You know, flora.

They'd still have to replace all the grass and plants after most events.