I think this line of thought has basic merit but can be dangerous. Often for me, if I'm programming fast enough that I have to struggle to keep it all "in my he

I think this line of thought has basic merit but can be dangerous. Often for me, if I'm programming fast enough that I have to struggle to keep it all "in my head", it simply means I haven't internalized the problem enough to really "own" it. That leads to bugs and sloppy code. Instead, I tend to spend as long as it takes mapping out a problem in my mind and just mulling it over. I find that for bigger problems exercise (jogging) and other activities like sleeping and showering to be healthy for this sort of thing. It's better if I'm not staring at a bunch of crap on the screen. I'll cycle between thought sessions and research until I've got an answer, but often the code I have written during that time is minimal (just enough to test an idea to see if some part of my model would work as I hoped). At the end of all that, I'll just puke out what's already in my head, but it's hardly ever so much code that typing speed is all that relevant. Sure, maybe I save an hour here or there because I'm an excellent typist, but I caution that if you're typing your knuckles off because you don't want to lose a train of thought that you may be moving too quickly. Obviously not everyone has the liberty to chill and seem unproductive until a moment of inspiration comes, but maybe that too is an indicator of a deeper problem ;)