I try not to write code for about an hour or so before going to bed. I find that if I work on code, especially a complicated problem, I will dream about finding a beautiful solution (without actually seeing or remembering what I do). It's really annoying to wake up and realize it was all just a dream.
Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
21–30 of 146 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#22I never really dream of code, but I did have a funny dream of me writing something and trying to get girls to check out what I wrote. I was like, "hey ladies, check out this code"
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#23Sometimes if I've been doing a lot, also sometimes I have dreams where the dream is just code scrolling in front of my eyes. This second type of coding dream generally happens if I'm doing more than 10+ hours a day of a very verbose language.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#24Yes, but not in the literal sense for me. I never see any text or code but rather some abstract version of the problem I'm trying to solve. I dislike it to be honest, it makes me feel like I'm not getting any rest, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night from a code dream only to continue in that loop while I'm half awake. One time I went to sleep after starting a take home code test for a job interview;…
Would you mind sharing why they (said they) ultimately chose not to extend an offer? Just curious about an anecdote from a hiring/recruiting perspective.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#25This is true for everything in life. Do some thing alot, and your mind will start processing it while you are asleep. I used to have such dreams about EverQuest. So I eventually realized I should play less :P It's called the Tetris Effect, read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect
Yup, I had the same for Jedi Knight, Counter-Strike, Left4Dead. With Left4Dead I had it particularly bad, when I would walk to school in the morning - still half asleep from playing until late the night before, I would "hallucinate" the sounds of the game.
Even though I stopped gaming somewhere during university, I still have dreams about those games every now and then.
OT: Just like other's in this thread, I have dreamed about code as well, with a similar frustration to wake up knowing the beautiful solution was all imaginary :-)
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#26I started out in system administration and network engineering before switching to programming. I once had a dream that my cigarette needed an IP address before I could smoke it.
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#27When I go to sleep after having worked on something complex and didn't fully resolve it, I'll almost always dream about trying to solve it. Sometimes I see code, sometimes it's more abstract, but it's always disconcerting. My wife says I mumble things like, "I'm pretty sure 'also' is a keyword unless I'm losing my mind and need to check the documentation"
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#28In CS 101 I spent all night working on my final homework, walked into class, put the printed solution on the professor's desk, sat down in a desk right in front of his and fell asleep.
I dreamt about the homework problem, and realized I had made a mistake. I immediately woke up, grabbed the paper, and made the correction. The whole class burst into laughter, but the professor didn't seem disturbed. Later he told me something like that happens every few years (he's been teaching for 30).
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#29I've been doing this for 30 years. Why? Because I work in such a way to make it happen. What you call a problem, I embrace as a gift.
Of all the things I've discussed here at Hacker News over the years, this is probably the #1 subject. Most programmers have the opposite problem of you: they have trouble turning their minds on.
I always turn my computer off several hours before bed. The last thing I do every night is review hard copies of code with a red marker. Many nights I dream of my project/code. Sometimes I even jump up in the middle of the night and go to my computer, write down my thoughts, or lately, voice record them.
Sometimes I am incredibly grateful for the "gift" I've received from "outside myself" in the middle of the night. Other times I'm annoyed. For every cool insight, there are many false positives: What was I thinking? But the positives far outweigh the negatives.
I don't know why this works, but I can't imagine accomplishing all I do without it. Many programmers struggle for years to turn this "mind CRON" on. You already have the gift. I suggest you find a way to embrace it and turn your lemons into lemonade. You don't have a problem; you have a gift. Make it count!
My original HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=191275
Also #49 here: http://v25media.s3.amazonaws.com/edw519_mod.pdf
Re: Ask HN: Does anyone dream of code?
#30This is true for everything in life. Do some thing alot, and your mind will start processing it while you are asleep. I used to have such dreams about EverQuest. So I eventually realized I should play less :P It's called the Tetris Effect, read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect
First and most intense time this ever happened to me was from playing the origin Alpha Centauri. It was ultimately a deeply uncomfortable experience.