Optimal install templates for testing Slackware? (discussion/post)

I want to do more testing with Slackware now that I'm getting more used to it in my first week (still have a long way to go). This is mainly a theoretical discussion / suggestion thread. Opinions are welcome, and I would love to hear multiple ideas. As of right now I using VMWare: Workstation Pro to experiment with Slackware. Please keep that in mind during your feedback, although I still would appreciate hosted setups as well (they may not differ as much).

Mainline question:

What would be an ideal setup from a clean install for testing purposes? Testing in this case would be for programming.

Sub-questions that feed into the mainline question include:

1. cfdisk vs. fdisk (gpt/dos/sun/sgi < differences in these?)
2. Partitions and sizes (ideal strategies for allocating directories)
3. Swap and it's viability (16GB of RAM / 4 cores is what I'm allocating)
4. Additional services I should add aside from the default? (I'm talking about setup mode, where there are additional services and packages you can add before installing the system.)

I believe that would cover my curiosity for quite some time. I want to thank the entire Slackware family for being super supportive and encouraging me to stay the course! Thank you!!:study: