3 to 4 minutes to recompile over a million lines of code is a lifetime? What size code base do you work with? If you write in a dynamic language, how long does it take all of your tests to pass?

Now I have to wonder if you're being serious.

yep. this is the same reason most JEE development sucks - constant restarting of your app servers during development.

why not "hot deploy"?

hot deploy doesn't work when you're working with other developers who are violating the JEE spec (mainly by starting their own threads.)