Interestingly, just when I was about to write about the pleasure of not typing many things while coding in Eclipse, J. B. Rainsberger just posted about the potential importance of typing fast. I guess this is the nature of the webernet: everything and its opposite at the same time, and leave it to the readers to sort things out!
I was reflecting about my coding habits with Eclipse after a thread in the Java forums, where a poster was complaining about the continuous compilation feature, prompted some internal debates (my, myself and I often disagree). Interestingly, this feature has been touted by others as a key one.
I personally like the continuous feedback. The rare time I write C# code in SharpDevelop, it takes me a while to remember that I have to tell the IDE to look at my code. First, I do not like to have to tell my friend the computer to do things. Second, I want the continuous feedback. I do not mind if the compiler is temporarily confused because my syntax is momentarily broken. I want the early warning that this feature gives me.
In fact, continuous compilation creates a neat state of flow, where you actually engage into a conversation with the IDE. And this is where my stance about not typing comes into play. I do not type class names, but merely each capital letter of its name and let the code assistance propose me something that fits. I do not write variable declarations: I either assign it automatically or extract it from existing code. I less and less write method declarations but extract them. I allow Eclipse to add keywords (like final) and attributes (like @Override) everywhere it thinks necessary. I leave it up to the code formatter to clean up my mess and make it stick with the coding conventions in place.
All these automatic features do not dumb me down. They establish a rich conversation between my slow and fuzzy brain and the fast and strict development environment. The compiler tells me: "ok, this is what I understand" and the IDE tells me: "alright, here is what I propose". And then I correct course or keep going.
So maybe we need a little less typing and a little more conversation?
