Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#1

Post by pacaro » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 5:49 PM UTC

New problems, changing languages, revisiting old code, all of these seem to make me dream in code. I'm curious how prevalent this is.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#2

Post by sonabinu » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:04 PM UTC

interesting ... was discussing this with another programmer.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#3

Post by hauget » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:06 PM UTC

I dream in different languages sometimes. It's scary.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#4

Post by _RPM » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:09 PM UTC

I think in code. I have dreamed about code.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#5

Post by adenner » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:12 PM UTC

Very rarely, however I do know a developer who dreamed a full day's work where he solved a big problem and was then really confused when all of his hard work didn't exist the next morning.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#6

Post by sonabinu » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:22 PM UTC

adenner wrote: post #5

Very rarely, however I do know a developer who dreamed a full day's work where he solved a big problem and was then really confused when all of his hard work didn't exist the next morning.

did it help him arrive at a solution? i've seen a few people who have that experience - the fact that they could have a solution in a dream helped them solve the problem

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#7

Post by pacaro » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:23 PM UTC

adenner wrote: post #5

Very rarely, however I do know a developer who dreamed a full day's work where he solved a big problem and was then really confused when all of his hard work didn't exist the next morning.

I've certainly woken in the middle of the night to write things down. In the cold light of day they're rarely as exceptional as they seem at 2am...

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#8

Post by lutusp » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:40 PM UTC

sonabinu wrote: post #6

adenner wrote: post #5

Very rarely, however I do know a developer who dreamed a full day's work where he solved a big problem and was then really confused when all of his hard work didn't exist the next morning.

did it help him arrive at a solution? i've seen a few people who have that experience - the fact that they could have a solution in a dream helped them solve the problem

This is a human behavior with a long, very interesting history. Chemist August Kekule supposedly was trying to sort out the chemical structure of Benzene, dozed off, and dreamt of a snake with his tail in his mouth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kekul%C3%A9#The_ouroboro...

There are many other similar stories of various kinds of technical problems being solved during sleep and/or while dreaming.

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#9

Post by gee_totes » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 6:51 PM UTC

I've dreamt in code a few times, but here is my favorite story.

After a long 14 day I drifted off to sleep on the subway. I had a dream in SQL about trying to figure out the best way to set up the moment with a girl I liked so I could go in for a kiss. For some reason, it involved alot of table joins and sub-queries. When I woke up, I realized I had the solution to the de-duplication problem I had been working on all day!

Re: Ask HN: Sunday brunch question: Do you dream in code?

#10

Post by gemmakbarlow » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 7:27 PM UTC

Not regularly, but I've found bugs twice whilst dreaming ... and it's amazing when it happens!

Dream consists of looking through code... then suddenly notice something in my dream-code that isn't quite right and fix it. If I wake up I know it was a dream but am left wondering if it's a bug in real life...

Twice it has been. Brains are weird.