When I were a lad, computer club meetings were almost always accompanied by substantial quantities of liquids. Some pretty sophisticated coding was done in these sessions. On the hardware side, two of my friends once came up with an overclocking mod for the TRS-80 model 1 when seriously liquidated. When they had sobered up, even with the working mod in front of them, they couldn't work out how they had done it. So I, for one, would hesitate before condemning alcohol as necessarily bad.

When programming for fun, I have no qualms about having a beer handy. I'm trying to relax, and a beer is part of that relaxation. Even when programming for work, I will often have a beer handy if I'm working at home (i.e. almost certainly in my own time). More than once, I have cursed a knotty problem, packed up for the night, gone home and suddenly spotted a simple, elegant solution after a few drinks. This is leading me to these conclusions: 1) Relaxation is important. 2) Complex solutions can be solved better by a relaxed mind. 3) Beer is part of my relaxation pattern.

Against this, though, I have to say that, for me, study is something that has to be done stone cold sober. It's also worth mentioning[1] that I have more than once been so engrossed in a problem that I have ended up with a nearly full can of flat, warm beer!

I also spend a lot of time under the influence of pseudoephedrine (an amphetamine banned by the IOC). It's an ingredient of my hay fever tablets, and certainly improves my coding. I defy anyone to work sensibly when sneezing every five seconds, and spending much of the remaining time trying to find a dry spot on a handkerchief.

Regards,

John Davies

[1] On the assumption that any of this node or thread is worth mentioning!