Music for Programming • Hacker News Board

Re: Music for Programming

#241

Post by drewzero1 » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 8:09 PM UTC

publicola1990 wrote: post #102

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

Game sound tracks may be a good option, because to they are designed to be in the back ground, and not to be grating on the ears even after much repetition.

The sci-fi racing series WipeOut has some great tracks for fast-paced instrumental background music. Picks me up every time.

The Portal 2 soundtrack has a good mix of fast and slow/eerie, which I find great for working through things... though I may just associate it with problem-solving because of the nature of the game.

For calmer, more meandering listening, I've got the Morrowind soundtrack. Though really any recent Elder Scrolls game has some great wandering music.

Re: Music for Programming

#242

Post by garfieldnate » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 8:47 PM UTC

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

The thing that works best for me is 1) have really good noise-cancelling headphones so I can't hear conversations going on around me, and 2) just listen to a couple minutes of some instrumental music I like at the beginning of a focused session. The music playing can be distracting after a while, but just listening to a bit to get my brain going is a bit magic. After I turn the music off, it keeps going in my head in a pretty intense and still almost audible way. I find myself absorbed in it, moving my body to the beat and maybe humming with it, all in a way that isn't distracting to the task. Don't know how it works but it's fairly pleasant shrug.

My go-to is the Final Fantasy piano collections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dt1ZXxZ6I. I've listened to the music so much that it's no longer novel or distracting, but is still pleasant, complex and familiar.

I don't like trying to work to music with words, either. I end up spending my cycles trying to decipher what they are saying... I've never been able to understand words in songs.

Re: Music for Programming

#243

Post by ctenb » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 8:58 PM UTC

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

Yes. Lofi hiphop (e.g. lofi girl) works pretty well for me.

Re: Music for Programming

#244

Post by dataqat » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:38 PM UTC

8bitsrule wrote: post #117

I like SomaFM's "Cliqhop" stream. For a change-of-pace, try their "Groove Salad". 36 more flavors at https://somafm.com/

I progressed from musicforprogramming.net to Groove Salad at SomaFM :)

Re: Music for Programming

#245

Post by silisili » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:51 PM UTC

gelliott wrote: post #179

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

I've been enjoying "datawave" which a subgenre of synth music that has a pretty strong tech/retro-future vibe. Datassette, who put together the Music For Programming site, shows up a lot on the playlists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9q6RYg2Pdg ("glitchy synthwave radio for retro computing") https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0gLnq5MERpg58hMfpSqVWr

Hey thanks! I'd never heard of datawave, this is right up my alley, work music wise.

Re: Music for Programming

#246

Post by silisili » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:53 PM UTC

lkxijlewlf wrote: post #153

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

> Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. I do all the cooking for our family because I'm pretty good at it. A few things that help me. First is mise en place. I read through the recipe and lay out all the ingredients and prep them (dice, chop, measure, etc). The next thing is I read through the recipe several ti…

Thanks! Yeah, my wife keeps trying to drill this into my head as well and even goes as far as to ask what I'm making and help prepare stuff this way as well. It -does- help a lot, but I still find myself losing track of something. For example, I'll put bread in the oven and move to cooking sausage, then eggs, then remember I had (now black) bread in the oven I needed to remove!

Re: Music for Programming

#247

Post by grasshopperpurp » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:54 PM UTC

skyyler wrote: post #234

laumars wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also love Music for Airports but it's not one I see people talking about often.

Besides his work with Roxy Music, I think I see more discussion about Music for Airports than anything else he's done. But maybe I exist in strange circles.

Outside of music critics, I don't see him talked about much at all. I love his work as a producer for John Cale, David Bowie, and the Talking Heads in particular. Iirc he also worked on the two Iggy Pop records (the Idiot and Lust for Life) that Bowie produced. I also like his solo (non-ambient) work and work with Roxie Music, but the style of singing isn't my favorite. I know he didn't do vocals for Roxie, but the style of singing is similar to me.

He had a great conversation with Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast.

Re: Music for Programming

#248

Post by silisili » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:54 PM UTC

analog31 wrote: post #183

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

>>>> Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Is it better when she's not watching? This could just be the "boss effect".

Absolutely not. But at least I can clean well enough to hide the evidence and pretend it wasn't a disaster.

Re: Music for Programming

#249

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:56 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Music for Programming

#250

Post by silisili » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 9:57 PM UTC

christophilus wrote: post #131

silisili wrote: post #54

I've always described myself as a person with zero ability to multitask. Always have been, always will be. Every time I cook, my wife about has a panic attack watching me fumble around, forgetting things, looking for things, oh god that's burning, etc. Back on topic, I absolutely cannot listen to music with words when I code. I'll intermittently type lyrics instead of what I was intending to do. Anyone else cursed wi…

We’re the same person. I have kids, and let me tell you: the most stressful thing about kids isn’t them constantly trying to impale themselves on something; it’s the fact that they all try to talk to you at the same time.

When our kid was little, she spent sooo much time trying to talk to me while I was working. I didn't mind - I couldn't understand a word of it, and it wasn't distracting. As soon as she started piecing enough English together to make basic statements, it was all downhill from there.