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Conceptual memory
Conceptual memory is a continuum between perceptions and abstractions. How does the brain remember objects such as a hammer and concepts such as "tool"? Well, it first learns basic features of encountered stimuli, such as the wood grains and metal curves of a hammer, and then organizes those features into progressively higher levels of abstraction.
Developers are expected to maintain expertise in their craft throughout their careers. Unfortunately, the path to becoming an expert is not easily walked: For a novice, evidence suggests this can be a 10-year journey. Furthermore, for experts trying to become experts in new domains, like the desktop developer becoming a web developer, there are many concepts that must be put aside and new ones learned.
Studies examining the difference between an expert and novice find that performance differences arise from differences in brain activity. Not only do experts require less brain activity than novices, they also use different parts of their brains: Experts use conceptual memory whereas novices use attentive memory. That is, experts are able to exploit abstractions in conceptual memory, whereas novices must hold primitive representations in attentive memory.
Sketchlet (alpha) is a software tool designed to help a programmer form and prime concepts by supporting abstraction and reviewing concepts that need to be refreshed. You can try it for yourself at sketchlet.sourceforge.net.
By expanding the programming environment to tablets, sketchlets on a "Code Pad" can provide extra mental space to build and remember concepts about code.
References
For a full list of citations and references, read the original post here.
A diary study of task switching and interruptions (Czerwinski)
No task left behind?: examining the nature of fragmented work (Mark)
Resumption strategies for interrupted programming tasks (Parnin, Rugaber)
Subvocalization - Toward Hearing the Inner Thoughts of Developers (Parnin)
Task-evoked pupillary response to mental workload in HCI (Iqbal)
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Anyway good article :)
Though I'm sad to hear that people leave full control of their code to IDE's....
However, I do have a sign saying "DO NOT INTERRUPT UNLESS CAKE OR DEATH" somewhere when I really need to sort something crazy out.
Maybe a vacation room or two for "task-forces" or as a reward for good behavior.
Fast-forward to now, with an open-concept room - we have people walking behind us, people interrupting us, and it's so quiet you can hear a cricket fart, which is not a healthy work environment.
I understand the idealized notion that we'll all magically collaborate, but that just doesn't happen.
I definitely agree that open offices where there are just no barriers at all are dumb. I believe in collaboration and keeping people together (thus not a fan of individual offices for everyone if that's feasible in a particular space). Just need to still enable people to be able to focus on their work (and I suspect it's going to get harder with the younger generation coming to the table wanting instant gratification--no patience--and used to the idea of being constantly distracted--texts, Twitter, all sorts of input--rather than focussed on a single task.
Look at the articles on the design of Pixar's offices - they deliberately tried to make people meet, same as open plan offices. But, they did not try and make people meet at their desks. They made common areas (bathrooms, hallways) a common target to mix people. If you're already up and away from your desk for another purpose, a meeting doesn't take a programmer out of the zone. That's the kind of compromise that office makers need to make. Not this "let's make a giant mosh pit and hope that hearing two cow-orkers sixty feet away yap about something unrelated to work will spark communication and collaboration" nonsense. Peopleware (how many decades old is it now?) has the same point.
Worst part of being on an open-floor plan: hearing two associate producers. On speakerphone. To each other. I was located in an area between them, so I heard each of them twice (original and speakerphone).
It's great to know I'm not alone in this O_O;
As someone working from home this is *really* relevant!
:D
Valuable read...