You read these reports because these are unusual results, and people consider them achievements to be mentioned. If it were normal for competent developers to crank out completed projects in an evening or during lunch, you wouldn't see the fact mentioned in their blog posts.
I think the speed of coding is basically a mystery which no one understands, once you look at a high enough level (above incompetents who don't really know what they're doing). Some people are much faster than others, but in rare bursts, and end up being less productive. Some people are much faster than others all the time, and nobody really knows why, including themselves. They probably feel they have a "system", but it's difficult to decide whether or not it's justification after the fact. Others might try to use the same system and fail; the productive coder might well be just as productive if they tried a different "system".
Individually, everybody ends up with a hunch of what works for them; probably more often than not the hunch is right, but it's also a good idea to try other ways of organizing your work and see if they stick. Collectively, we just don't know.
I think the speed of coding is basically a mystery which no one understands, once you look at a high enough level (above incompetents who don't really know what they're doing). Some people are much faster than others, but in rare bursts, and end up being less productive. Some people are much faster than others all the time, and nobody really knows why, including themselves. They probably feel they have a "system", but it's difficult to decide whether or not it's justification after the fact. Others might try to use the same system and fail; the productive coder might well be just as productive if they tried a different "system".
Individually, everybody ends up with a hunch of what works for them; probably more often than not the hunch is right, but it's also a good idea to try other ways of organizing your work and see if they stick. Collectively, we just don't know.