While it's true that shorter write/run cycles can encourage a throw-spaghetti-at-a-wall approach to programming, the other side is the Bret Victor point of view

While it's true that shorter write/run cycles can encourage a throw-spaghetti-at-a-wall approach to programming, the other side is the Bret Victor point of view [1], i.e. that a programming environment that clearly exposes the behavior of the computer and allows the programmer to react to it can help her more easily form a mental model of the program's behavior. People can only keep but so much program state inside their heads, so careful thinking will only take you but so far. I'm optimistic that in the long-term, developing these kinds of interactive programming tools will be a net positive for programmer productivity even in the face of additional bugs that may be introduced. [1] http://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/ http://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/