A program should never take more than a few seconds to compile. While a few seconds might not amount to much in terms of wall-clock time, the productivity loss of broken “flow” is immeasurable.
Slow compile times invariably lead to multi-tasking (unless you’re patient enough to stare at compile output for a minute or so), which means you lose all context about what you were doing.
I want my programming sessions to feel like StarCraft, not play-by-mail chess.
