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What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

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Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#51

Post by king_phil »

emerged wrote: post #41
rhizome31 wrote: post #31

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this. As I practice TDD, my usual workflow is think -> test -> code, code usually being the easiest part. Things like "problems break down instantly", "everything becomes effortless" sound strange and exciting. I wonder how that relates to the concepts of maintainability, cowboy programming and 10x engineer. I've met a few programmers in my career who were able to wri…

I'm one of the coders who will sit down for hours without compiling and end up with working code (doing it right now, I've got a new algorithm which I couldn't wait until Monday to dig into). But there's a process of preparation leading up to that point. First step usually involves a whiteboard and/or pen-and-paper notes for developing the overall design, data structures and algorithms. Then I'll use hierarchical not…

I do this process in code, actually, by using a somethat TDD-like methodology of "scoping" through the levels of code, where I flesh out the function signatures of all the classes, write the high level stuff like how these classes are coupled (and discover I missed some passing of objcts/values/data/control flow) and then the rest is just typing. In almost all of these cases there is a lot of thinking involved before typing ANYTHING where I take 2 or 3 days after first looking at the problem to think about different aspects of the problem and that sub-problems they might have.

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#52

Post by lionyo »

snarf21 wrote: post #50
synthmeat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It comes and goes, with very little control on your behalf. As anecdata makes the data, here's mine - you have a lot of control of it. If you can control your environment (audio, light, temperature, food, exercise, communication, interaction, ...), you can get in the zone too just by virtue of almost exclusively focusing on some type of work you get in the zone for in the first place. Live by code, die by code.

As another anecdata, the only way I've landed there more intentionally is with the two beer buzz. Working late on a project that is behind and you grab two slices and a six pack. Two beers in (and one every hour) and all of a sudden you just start tearing through code. I've had this happen to me countless times. I think it is because a lot of engineers have a brain that is spinning 1000% all the time and a couple of…

Sounds like the Ballmer Peak: https://xkcd.com/323/

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#53

Post by kornork »

cpayne624 wrote: post #23

I'm a Fed engineer and spent a 4 mo. assignment on an integrated team with Pivotal pairing exclusively. It was a long 4 months for me. There was no "zone." I'm not built for pairing.

I think pairing can be different for different people. I've often heard people saying that "the zone" comes more easily when pairing. Personally, any zone I'm feeling pairing has a different character from one achieved alone. It's easier to focus on the task at hand (because there's peer pressure).

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#54

Post by lisper »

emerged wrote: post #41
rhizome31 wrote: post #31

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this. As I practice TDD, my usual workflow is think -> test -> code, code usually being the easiest part. Things like "problems break down instantly", "everything becomes effortless" sound strange and exciting. I wonder how that relates to the concepts of maintainability, cowboy programming and 10x engineer. I've met a few programmers in my career who were able to wri…

I'm one of the coders who will sit down for hours without compiling and end up with working code (doing it right now, I've got a new algorithm which I couldn't wait until Monday to dig into). But there's a process of preparation leading up to that point. First step usually involves a whiteboard and/or pen-and-paper notes for developing the overall design, data structures and algorithms. Then I'll use hierarchical not…

> 2-8 hours

I'm at the opposite extreme: I code in Lisp, so design and coding are interleaved with a cycle time measured in minutes or seconds. The compiler is my collaborator throughout, checking my work at every step.

[UPDATE] Downvotes? Seriously? Why?

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#55

Post by sillysaurus3 »

falcolas wrote: post #40
synthmeat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It comes and goes, with very little control on your behalf. As anecdata makes the data, here's mine - you have a lot of control of it. If you can control your environment (audio, light, temperature, food, exercise, communication, interaction, ...), you can get in the zone too just by virtue of almost exclusively focusing on some type of work you get in the zone for in the first place. Live by code, die by code.

No amount of control of my environment will put me in the zone when I'm working on boring code. Crud framework? I'll be reading HN while going through the motions. Code review? Time for some stimulating music (though not too stimulating, I do need to pay attention to the code review). But give me something interesting - a real challenge - and I'm able to get into the zone, the hours flying by like they were minutes.…

Everyone is different. :)

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#56

Post by helm33 »

snarf21 wrote: post #50
synthmeat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It comes and goes, with very little control on your behalf. As anecdata makes the data, here's mine - you have a lot of control of it. If you can control your environment (audio, light, temperature, food, exercise, communication, interaction, ...), you can get in the zone too just by virtue of almost exclusively focusing on some type of work you get in the zone for in the first place. Live by code, die by code.

As another anecdata, the only way I've landed there more intentionally is with the two beer buzz. Working late on a project that is behind and you grab two slices and a six pack. Two beers in (and one every hour) and all of a sudden you just start tearing through code. I've had this happen to me countless times. I think it is because a lot of engineers have a brain that is spinning 1000% all the time and a couple of…

>choosing your line and focusing on executing it, everything else in life falls away.

For me, this is skiing. Complete focus and attention on the task at hand. Winter, come soon.

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#57

Post by tudorconstantin »

falcolas wrote: post #40
synthmeat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It comes and goes, with very little control on your behalf. As anecdata makes the data, here's mine - you have a lot of control of it. If you can control your environment (audio, light, temperature, food, exercise, communication, interaction, ...), you can get in the zone too just by virtue of almost exclusively focusing on some type of work you get in the zone for in the first place. Live by code, die by code.

No amount of control of my environment will put me in the zone when I'm working on boring code. Crud framework? I'll be reading HN while going through the motions. Code review? Time for some stimulating music (though not too stimulating, I do need to pay attention to the code review). But give me something interesting - a real challenge - and I'm able to get into the zone, the hours flying by like they were minutes.…

During my about 11 years of experience as a web dev, I rarely got to do any repetitive and boring tasks. When I got them, I made them interesting by thinking of ways to automate as much as possible of the implementation process.

Or negociated a higher pay, so it becomes non viable financially for the employer to use me as a resource to do the routine stuff. This doesn't apply to code reviews though.

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#58

Post by wolco »

rhizome31 wrote: post #31

I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this. As I practice TDD, my usual workflow is think -> test -> code, code usually being the easiest part. Things like "problems break down instantly", "everything becomes effortless" sound strange and exciting. I wonder how that relates to the concepts of maintainability, cowboy programming and 10x engineer. I've met a few programmers in my career who were able to wri…

Writing code within a flow is a skill you could develop if you keep practising.

ttd forces you into a pattern where your brain doesn't have to think for itself and waits for the computer to tell you if what you did was right.

ttd provides good training wheels. I think it works best when someone else has defined the requirements but is not the best choice if the requirements will continue to change or if people are not exactly sure of the outcome before the code writing starts.

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#59

Post by EdgarVerona »

Getting in the zone is something exhilarating for me - I experience euphoria, though I don't really notice the feeling until after it's over or if I get broken out of it.

It was actually something that as of late has started to disturb me: I notice that I live for moments like that, when I get in the zone and the whole world melts away. I feel like a junkie seeking a high, and thinking back on my youth and how destructive I was to my body and my interpersonal relationships in pursuit of "code all the time," I wonder whether that analogy is even more accurate than I'd like to believe.

I look back on my life and wonder if I've actually been a lifelong addict who is lucky enough to have a productive output of his addiction rather than a functioning member of society.

I don't know if others feel or have felt this way, or if it's just a phase that I'm going through. But these are my thoughts at the moment.

Re: What it feels like to be in the zone as a programmer

#60

Post by jackcosgrove »

EliRivers wrote: post #43

Oh yeah, here comes the zone, here comes the zone, it's taken an hour of intense study of all this code but now I can see all the pieces at once inside my head and I can feel exactly how to thread this code right through the middle of all of it and - COLLEAGUE LEANS OVER FROM NEARBY DESK IN OPEN OFFICE: "Hey buddy, what's the password for the - oh no, wait I remember." Wait, what was I doing? What's all this code on…

I don't feel much while in the zone but I sure get irritable when someone disrupts it.
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