[ChuckMcM]

In many ways the responsiveness of the machine can work against you. Back when the Amiga was a hot machine to work on there were two compilers Lattice C and Manx C, Lattice was the one sanctioned for development and it took a long time to compile and link, Manx on the other hand compiled really really fast. A number of developers discovered that the fast compiler had a weird effect of making it easy to try lots of things quickly, rather than contemplating what you needed to do next.

Then recently Randal Munroe published an XKCD cartoon on attention deficit management [1] which when I saw it, it really resonated with this same experience. Basically by slowing things down, quality improved. Clearly there is a fundamental principle here somewhere, something along that lines that there is an ideal pace for development (perhaps unique to each individual) where going faster or slower than that ideal negatively impacts quality.

[1] http://xkcd.com/862/

[ScottBurson]

I find that fast compile turnaround helps me stay engaged with the problem. Even a 30 second delay gives me time to get distracted by one of the temptations that surround us all. The ironic result is that I sometimes actually think less about what I'm doing when I have to tolerate these delays. Ideally, when I catch myself doing this, I make myself stop and think, but sometimes I'm tired and lack the patience.

On the other hand, in a fast-turnaround environment like Lisp, I can make three stupid mistakes in about a minute, and when I realize I'm thrashing, I still have all the context in my head to figure out what I should really do.