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Code needs to be written to file, on way or another. While all programmers should strive to write no more code than necessary, this "small" portion needs to be written nevertheless.
What tips do you have for improving the code writing effort? Usage of IDEs? Different keyboards or character layouts? Minimal usage of mouse? Code generation tools? What else can you think of?
For me, an IDE with autocomplete is important. A programming language that requires less keystrokes would be nice (type less, read less) but keeping it understandable (unlike J).
Keyboard layout: I don't think it's a problem. I switched the layout a few times (US/CH, PC/Mac), and after some time the brain adjusted. Code generation: I avoid them, except to generate getters, setter, and implement an interface.
Getting as much of the crap out of the developers way is the way to go. Anything that makes me think of anything other than the task in hand is a waste of my clock cycles.
Unfortunately, what this actually is will differ from person to person. Some people touch the mouse as little as possible. Other people hate to have to remember keyboard shortcuts. Some people want silence, others like the hum of a working office.
Anything mechanical or repetitive should be automated. Code formatting tools, version control commit-hooks for lint checking, cruise control, etc, etc are good and fairly generally applicable.
Aside from that, give developers the choice to make their own decisions on what works for them. Some decisions have to be made at a department / company level (code style, build system, possibly even IDE, depending on your level of integration), but everything else should be left to the person who has to get that small amount of code into the file.
(Copying my answer from SO...)
As @Thomas-Mueller said back on SO, type less, not faster. In addition, try to follow DRY (Don't repeat yourself). I used to hear people raving about "cookie cutter code", where you could supposedly get a lot done quickly by cutting and pasting large amounts of code. The reason that's a problem is if there's a need to change the original code, now you have to change N copies.
Programmers are like noisy channels. If they have to make 10 changes to the code, if they're really good, they'll get 8 of them right. The ones they don't get right are new bugs.
That's why short code and DRY matter.
That's also why compiler languages are better than assembler, and why domain specific languages (DSL) are better yet, when they apply.
Since I use SQL Server Management Studio a lot, I have a pretty good template library. Someone on this site recommended SSMS Tool Pack, so I'm checking that out.
The best is copy & paste. I'M JUST KIDDING!
