Sometimes it’s good to have one with your code, one with the running program and one with a browser looking stuff up. You can argue one or two more (like database model, expected output, …) but you barely need a whole monitor for each. The photo is just pretentious and comically overdone
Like if you’re writing an essay on paper. You have your desk covered with a reference book or two, your draft version, working version, assignment, additional clarifications and notes, … It would be such a hassle to put it all in one neat stack and search for whatever you need every time.
So programmers like to have the programming manual, design, notes, remarks from the customer, … spread out over the screen(s) instead of switching back and forth every time.
one 1080p screen for code with 3-6 pages open simultaneously (approx 80x24 or 90x40 depending on whether the file tree is also open)
one 1080p screen for a terminal with 4-6 terminal sessions displayed (80x24)
one 1080p screen for reference documentation
or more 1080p screens for even more documentation as rabbit holes in documentation can go quite deep
…and that’s before even more screens for monitoring services, CI status, rabbit holes in documentation, etc.
Then there’s video chat. It gets really fun when someone asks “@inetknght, can you share your screen?” during a video call. Then I have to pick which screen gets shared and hope it’s the right one. It would suck if they how many emails I ignore. I currently have 15,070 unarchived emails in my inbox spanning over a decade. I’ll get to cleaning that inbox when the bug reports stop coming.
Plus, I sometimes run VMs fullscreen. It’s best to do that on a dedicated monitor. Especially if there’s multiple VMs running. Otherwise good luck finding the real desktop!
As a non-programmer - why does programmers need so much screen space?
Sometimes it’s good to have one with your code, one with the running program and one with a browser looking stuff up. You can argue one or two more (like database model, expected output, …) but you barely need a whole monitor for each. The photo is just pretentious and comically overdone
Like if you’re writing an essay on paper. You have your desk covered with a reference book or two, your draft version, working version, assignment, additional clarifications and notes, … It would be such a hassle to put it all in one neat stack and search for whatever you need every time.
So programmers like to have the programming manual, design, notes, remarks from the customer, … spread out over the screen(s) instead of switching back and forth every time.
Imagine trying to read 5 different books at once while simultaniously writing 30 books at once.
Java class names.
As a programmer:
…and that’s before even more screens for monitoring services, CI status, rabbit holes in documentation, etc.
Then there’s video chat. It gets really fun when someone asks “@inetknght, can you share your screen?” during a video call. Then I have to pick which screen gets shared and hope it’s the right one. It would suck if they how many emails I ignore. I currently have 15,070 unarchived emails in my inbox spanning over a decade. I’ll get to cleaning that inbox when the bug reports stop coming.
Plus, I sometimes run VMs fullscreen. It’s best to do that on a dedicated monitor. Especially if there’s multiple VMs running. Otherwise good luck finding the real desktop!