in reply to Music Soothes the Savage. . . code?

Stating the obvious, but you're not the first person to make this connection (nor am I, for that matter.)

What I have found is that what kind of music one likes to listen to during "crunch time" depends highly on (drum roll, please...) what kind of music one likes to listen to.

No, really.

For me, I code best when listening to popular classical music (Overture of 1812, Holst's Mars, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel's Bolero.) However, I know other coders who do their best "writing" to Tool, or Megadeth, or something else that makes my ears fall off.

So, I guess, whatever stimulates the creative part of your brain also helps the analytical part. Matter of fact, now that I think about it, there was a report on NPR this morning during Morning Edition about doctors who play musical instruments. Unfortunately, it came on just as I arrived at work, and it wasn't exactly a Driveway Moment kind of story for me. Would be interesting to go back and listen to it now, though...

-Yendor

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Re^2: Music Soothes the Savage. . . code?
by jobi (Scribe) on Nov 16, 2004 at 22:42 UTC
    what kind of music one likes to listen to during "crunch time" depends highly on ... what kind of music one likes to listen to.

    Strangely enough, I find that the opposite is true for me. I very seldom listen to trance (I don't have any trance on cds or mp3), but when I'm coding, there's no substitute for it. Might be the repetetiveness, the fast beat or the (usually at least) lack of lyrics, but it sure makes me code faster and better.

    There's a very nice shoutcast called Tag's Trance Trip that I recommend if you'd like to try if it works for you too.

    jobi
[reply]

      SomaFM has some killer grooves, as well. Their Groove Salad is a great trance station, and Drone Zone is lo-beat ambient. Both make for excellent background music.

      Personally, what I listen to depends on what kind of code I'm writing. If I have the algorithm all figured out and I'm just slapping down reference code, I'll go for harder tunes and trance. When doing work that requires deep concentration, like detailed refactors or complicated debugging sessions, Ambient is the way to go.

      radiantmatrix
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