At any given point of time, you can find at least 4 windows/editors opened on my screen. As a web developer, it is not unusual for me to work on several files at the same time. So, to reduce the Alt+Tabbing, I try to have most of the windows visible on the screen. Following is a list of tools that help me to do so.
1. Two monitor setup
Along with my laptop screen, I have setup one additional monitor. This gives me lots of screen space which I can make use of. In fact, I would like to setup one more monitor too, but the limitation of laptop graphics card holding me back.
2. Grid plugin in Compiz
I’m running Ubuntu on my laptop. I have installed Compiz which provides several plugins to fine tune the Ubuntu UI. Grid is one such plugin for re-sizing windows.
Once enabled, you can press Ctrl + Alt + <KeyPad 4> to re-size the current window and fit it on the left side of the screen. You can repeatedly press the same key combo to switch between different window sizes. There are other keyboard shortcuts too which positions the current window in different directions.
Unfortunately, after upgrading to Ubuntu 11.10, the Grid plugin does not work correctly. There’s a bug raised for this and hopefully it’ll be fixed and the world will come to an order.
3. Terminator
Terminator lets me to run multiple terminals inside a single window. Initially it opens with a single terminal window. Then, I could split up that window either horizontally or vertically to get additional terminals. I can go further and split them again until I get the number of terminal I want. Pretty neat!
You can download Terminator from the Ubuntu Software center.
4. Eclipse split editors
Fortunately, Eclipse comes with a built-in support for having two editors side-by-side. Just drag the editor until it sits on its own space and you’re all set.
Now the only things that concerns me is the default file manager in Ubuntu. I do not feel the Nautilus file manager is that effective. For instance, I couldn’t copy the current path name or split the screens to have two folders opened at the same time.
I’m still looking for a workaround for this. Would appreciate if you are using any better file manager than Nautilus, please leave a comment! 
Edit: Nautilus already does both the things. Thanks to Leandro Facchinetti for the awesome tip (in the comments section)!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Veera, actually Nautilus does the two things you mentioned:
Ctrl + L opens a text field with the current path.
F3 does the split view thing.
Awesome. It works!
Thanks Leandro for the tip.