A programmers.stackexchange question basically asks if there’s an ideal frequency to compile your code. Surely not, as it completely depends on what kind of work you’re doing and how much focus you need at any given moment; breaking to ask for feedback is not necessarily a good idea if you’re plan is solid and you’re in the zone.

But a related topic is more interesting to me: What’s the ideal form of automated information flow from IDE to programmer?

IDEs can now potentially compile/lint/run static analysis on your code with every keystroke. I’m reminded of that when writing new Java code in NetBeans. “OMG the method you started writing two seconds ago doesn’t have the correct return type!!!” You don’t say. And I’ve used an IDE that dumped a huge distracting compiler message in the middle of the code due to a simple syntax error that I could’ve easily dealt with a bit later. I vaguely remember one where the feedback interfered with my typing!

So on one side of the spectrum the IDE could be needling you, dragging you out of the zone, but you do want to know about real problems at some point. Maybe the ideal notification model is progressive, starting out very subtle then becoming more obvious as time passes or it becomes clear you’re moving away from that line.

Anyone seen any unique work in this area?

Stepping back to the notion of when to stop and see if your program works, I think the trifecta of dependency injection, sufficiently strong typing, and solid IDE static analysis has really made a huge difference in this for me. Assuming my design makes sense, I find the bugs tend to be caught in the IDE so that programs are more solid by the time I get to the slower—and more disruptive to flow—cycle of manual testing. YMMV!