Evaluation Loop - Why build and setup times matter

Lately I've been thinking about "turn around time" and programming. I'd define this is the time it takes one a change is made to determine if it is correct. There are two parts to correctness:

• The syntax is correct and the compiler will accept it.
• The code "does what you want"

The most important resource you have as a developer is your attention. The shorter this cycle is, the more likely you are to not get distracted and get more work done. This is why in magecrawl, I've done what i can to make the turn around time as close to zero as possible.

• Visual Studio will underline bad code as you type, so you don't even have to hit compile to know you forgot a ';'.
• C# has a ridiculously short compile and build time. I can build my entire game in less than 3 seconds. 
  
• The build step compiles and copies all the associated DLLs into a "dist" directory which has all the associated data files checked in. (No manual setup on new branches/machines).
  
• Debug builds turn off the introduction screens, "are you sure" timers, save on closing window, and anything else that slows down testing.

There is one things I'm currently not doing which might reduce "turn around time" even more.

• Unit and integration test the game engine and utilities module. This way, I could check common use cases with the hit of a button.

My excuse for this is lack of developer bandwidth. Ironically enough, something that could reduce my testing burden is too much of burden right now. As a developer, if other people aren't using my code, I tend to loose interest after awhile. That's why I released a tech demo of magecrawl, and want to get another tech demo finished soon, to get people to use it and keep my interest.

If you are programming at all, it might be worth investing time into making your build more automatic and faster. It's not the time savings as much as the attention savings that are paid back as dividends.