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Ask HN: What are your coding vices?

5 points by logn 14y ago

What gets you through the day at work? Does it enhance your ability to perform? E.g., coffee. Or more exotic chemicals. Foods? I'm curious.

brianwillis 14y ago
Diet Coke is the sweet nectar of the Gods and has gotten me through many an afternoon. I often wonder how much of the success that our industry has had can be attributed to caffeine.
benologist 14y ago
Coffee, diet coke and music. I miss smoking.
- logn 14y ago
  Yeah, music is very important to my concentration. I like Pandora a lot. Plus it provides nice micro-breaks when you can rate songs or create a new station. I like it so much for concentrating that the ad interruptions took me out of the zone so I paid for Pandora One. </end pandora promo> :)
jcr 14y ago
I really don't wish to seem like a snarky wise-ass, but for me, coding is a vice. Getting into the code is a very addictive rush, and time just somehow passes unnoticed.
bluestix 14y ago
For all you 'diet' fans: http://www.google.com/search?q=aspartame http://www.google.com/search?q=aspartame
mrlyc 14y ago
The middle of the afternoon is the worst time for me. I wake myself up with an apple or some celery and a quick walk around the block.
subsection1h 14y ago
Coding vices? Here's mine: Premature optimization is the root of all fun!
RutZap 14y ago
Music is very important to me... a lot of genres.. depending on the kind of work I need to do: if I am building something complex which requires a lot of concentration I go for ambient music or even classical. If, on the other hand, I have to write something not very complex but tedious and repetitive, i go for tedious and repetitive music, goa trance, dubstep or dnb. Spotify is great: I've got some playlists especially done for different types of programming (web apps, max concentration, repetitive & tedious code, chilled down etc...) But when it comes to other vices... heavy smoking, "full-fat" Coke and coffee keep me happy :) I will probably not be able to keep it up like this for long... I guess I should grow up and quit.. but that's another story
- thoughtpalette 14y ago
  Do you mind sharing your spotify name? I'd like to check out some of your playlists.
maheshguruswamy 14y ago
A big production issue...that is my vice. Nothing like a nice high severity issue to get the brain cells going.

5 points by logn 14y ago

What gets you through the day at work? Does it enhance your ability to perform? E.g., coffee. Or more exotic chemicals. Foods? I'm curious.

brianwillis 14y ago

Diet Coke is the sweet nectar of the Gods and has gotten me through many an afternoon. I often wonder how much of the success that our industry has had can be attributed to caffeine.

benologist 14y ago

Coffee, diet coke and music. I miss smoking.

logn 14y ago
Yeah, music is very important to my concentration. I like Pandora a lot. Plus it provides nice micro-breaks when you can rate songs or create a new station. I like it so much for concentrating that the ad interruptions took me out of the zone so I paid for Pandora One. </end pandora promo> :)

jcr 14y ago

I really don't wish to seem like a snarky wise-ass, but for me, coding is a vice. Getting into the code is a very addictive rush, and time just somehow passes unnoticed.

bluestix 14y ago

For all you 'diet' fans: http://www.google.com/search?q=aspartame http://www.google.com/search?q=aspartame

mrlyc 14y ago

The middle of the afternoon is the worst time for me. I wake myself up with an apple or some celery and a quick walk around the block.

subsection1h 14y ago

Coding vices? Here's mine: Premature optimization is the root of all fun!

RutZap 14y ago

Music is very important to me... a lot of genres.. depending on the kind of work I need to do: if I am building something complex which requires a lot of concentration I go for ambient music or even classical. If, on the other hand, I have to write something not very complex but tedious and repetitive, i go for tedious and repetitive music, goa trance, dubstep or dnb. Spotify is great: I've got some playlists especially done for different types of programming (web apps, max concentration, repetitive & tedious code, chilled down etc...) But when it comes to other vices... heavy smoking, "full-fat" Coke and coffee keep me happy :) I will probably not be able to keep it up like this for long... I guess I should grow up and quit.. but that's another story

thoughtpalette 14y ago
Do you mind sharing your spotify name? I'd like to check out some of your playlists.

maheshguruswamy 14y ago

A big production issue...that is my vice. Nothing like a nice high severity issue to get the brain cells going.