There is a psychological term for that state of mind, which I'm sure most of the readers here know already. It's been investigated thoroughly by the psychologis

There is a psychological term for that state of mind, which I'm sure most of the readers here know already. It's been investigated thoroughly by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try saying that 3 times fast). It's called Flow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29) and to me is a really interesting topic, as well as a mental state I'm sure most programmers are experiencing regularly. At least unless they are sitting in a hectic environment, like say, a home office with 3 cats and a frequently insisting girlfriend (theoretical example).