5 ms·

From my experience and some of the comments, it seems like a common thread is that weed is good for "clean the garage" tasks - not cognitively challenging but t

From my experience and some of the comments, it seems like a common thread is that weed is good for "clean the garage" tasks - not cognitively challenging but tedious, something you'd like to be distracted from - and not good for reading and retaining new information. In programming terms, I think it's great for refactoring, or let's say working through a bunch of corner cases on some weird business data you have to parse, and terrible for learning a new framework or implementing something new you where you need to read several articles about something and combine them into a coherent plan.

vlovich123 5y ago
Hard disagree, at least for me. I’ve tried doing lots of different programming tasks and they all take longer. Now it might not be as annoying to do the refactor but it takes more time since I lose track or get distracted. Not sure about the quality of the code either since it’s hard to measure objectively when you’re making mistakes in the moment. Maybe creative technical problem solving it has a benefit. However, from listening to interviews from successful comedians, there are many that express that worry about not being funny off weed, and it rarely if ever works out that way so I’m the “it likely has no to mild negative effect” on most (but not necessarily all) creative problem solving
- ineptech 5y ago
  I'm not surprised, I think it's just extremely subjective. I mean, I find it extremely hard to focus on a programming task if there's music playing, but I know people who listen to music all day while they work.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    I can't even begin to program under the influence of alcohol. Almost brain dead in that regard.
frank_nitti 5y ago
Generally agree with this, with one specific addition: Spend some sober hours wrapping my head around some new concept (e.g. programming pattern/paradigm or theory topic) or just reading a large codebase for the first time. At a certain point, my brain is just “done”. Then a small toke of some good weed with the intention of checking out and relaxing. More often than not, the effect is the opposite: the complex material i had spent the previous hours analyzing starts to piece itself together in new ways and my energy and interest in the task is restored to 100%. While it may not be the right time to hammer out a complete implementation, it has often assisted in that crucial step of “getting it”. This happened for me often with topics that require a new perspective e.g. vector calculus and functional programming patterns Edit: for reference, I am a heavy user (typically on 2+ doses/day), with occasional long breaks of weeks/months. I believe “tolerance” plays the dominant role in programmers’ experience with this. After a month long break, there is NO way I’m able or interested to work with complex systems of any sort when under the influence.
datavirtue 5y ago
This fits mwith my experience. When my tasks are defined and are left only to implement I can plow through a lot of work. If I have to develop (or much worse, alter) abstractions that make use of generics and OOP I do not feel productive at all. I get very confused, easily. (Though I often power through it just fine) I do not smoke during business hours while working on client systems however, that does not sound appealing at all. I have used cannabis extensively on personal projects for inspiration and to make easy but mundane programming tasks interesting for motivation. Refctoring is very boring sometimes, and getting high can keep you focused on how nice it will be to complete it and get to the end result. I often am able to uncover a bit of fun in the refactoring process after smoking. My personal projects benefit from a pattern of: program for an hour or two (completely engrossed), short video game battle or two, smoke up a bit, program...repeat. I can chew through a tremendous amount of work in a five hours (measured by git commits and the complexity within those commits) that would easily take me weeks in a corporate setting. The pattern or rythum triggers "flow" consistently.
- ineptech 5y ago
  This is interesting, I wish it were that easy for me. Do you do any prep work, i.e. "story planning" (presumably in a less formal way than you would at work)? I find that, for my side projects, I can do a lot of damage while high IFF I have a very clear idea of exactly how the feature should work; but if sober me hasn't worked out clear acceptance criteria for the thing I'm doing, either I daydream and don't actually get anything done, or I wind up doing something totally unrelated, like an opportunistic refactor of something irrelevant to what I sat down to work on.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    It's hard to describe my design and planning approach. I have tried to enforce a structure like we do at work...epics...stories etc. Ends up slowing me down and wasting a bunch of time. I know the domain very well, so it's like the SME or product owner who is also an experienced developer just cranking shit out. I work with a visual designer for the UI which lets me play around with different concepts very quickly. I just iterate very quickly in code and in the UI, expressing myself...it's more art than science. I may plan to do something, and then sit down and get interested in a totally different feature...it is very important to do the thing that thrills me in the moment. It increases quality and ideation momentum.

vlovich123 5y ago

Hard disagree, at least for me. I’ve tried doing lots of different programming tasks and they all take longer. Now it might not be as annoying to do the refactor but it takes more time since I lose track or get distracted. Not sure about the quality of the code either since it’s hard to measure objectively when you’re making mistakes in the moment. Maybe creative technical problem solving it has a benefit. However, from listening to interviews from successful comedians, there are many that express that worry about not being funny off weed, and it rarely if ever works out that way so I’m the “it likely has no to mild negative effect” on most (but not necessarily all) creative problem solving

ineptech 5y ago
I'm not surprised, I think it's just extremely subjective. I mean, I find it extremely hard to focus on a programming task if there's music playing, but I know people who listen to music all day while they work.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  I can't even begin to program under the influence of alcohol. Almost brain dead in that regard.

frank_nitti 5y ago

Generally agree with this, with one specific addition: Spend some sober hours wrapping my head around some new concept (e.g. programming pattern/paradigm or theory topic) or just reading a large codebase for the first time. At a certain point, my brain is just “done”. Then a small toke of some good weed with the intention of checking out and relaxing. More often than not, the effect is the opposite: the complex material i had spent the previous hours analyzing starts to piece itself together in new ways and my energy and interest in the task is restored to 100%. While it may not be the right time to hammer out a complete implementation, it has often assisted in that crucial step of “getting it”. This happened for me often with topics that require a new perspective e.g. vector calculus and functional programming patterns Edit: for reference, I am a heavy user (typically on 2+ doses/day), with occasional long breaks of weeks/months. I believe “tolerance” plays the dominant role in programmers’ experience with this. After a month long break, there is NO way I’m able or interested to work with complex systems of any sort when under the influence.

datavirtue 5y ago

This fits mwith my experience. When my tasks are defined and are left only to implement I can plow through a lot of work. If I have to develop (or much worse, alter) abstractions that make use of generics and OOP I do not feel productive at all. I get very confused, easily. (Though I often power through it just fine) I do not smoke during business hours while working on client systems however, that does not sound appealing at all. I have used cannabis extensively on personal projects for inspiration and to make easy but mundane programming tasks interesting for motivation. Refctoring is very boring sometimes, and getting high can keep you focused on how nice it will be to complete it and get to the end result. I often am able to uncover a bit of fun in the refactoring process after smoking. My personal projects benefit from a pattern of: program for an hour or two (completely engrossed), short video game battle or two, smoke up a bit, program...repeat. I can chew through a tremendous amount of work in a five hours (measured by git commits and the complexity within those commits) that would easily take me weeks in a corporate setting. The pattern or rythum triggers "flow" consistently.

ineptech 5y ago
This is interesting, I wish it were that easy for me. Do you do any prep work, i.e. "story planning" (presumably in a less formal way than you would at work)? I find that, for my side projects, I can do a lot of damage while high IFF I have a very clear idea of exactly how the feature should work; but if sober me hasn't worked out clear acceptance criteria for the thing I'm doing, either I daydream and don't actually get anything done, or I wind up doing something totally unrelated, like an opportunistic refactor of something irrelevant to what I sat down to work on.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  It's hard to describe my design and planning approach. I have tried to enforce a structure like we do at work...epics...stories etc. Ends up slowing me down and wasting a bunch of time. I know the domain very well, so it's like the SME or product owner who is also an experienced developer just cranking shit out. I work with a visual designer for the UI which lets me play around with different concepts very quickly. I just iterate very quickly in code and in the UI, expressing myself...it's more art than science. I may plan to do something, and then sit down and get interested in a totally different feature...it is very important to do the thing that thrills me in the moment. It increases quality and ideation momentum.