He really lost me at "lesser languages like C"
Lisp is a fantastic language and I enjoy it. But to say that C is somehow lesser is dismissing the very thing required to implement lisp itself. And that's the sort of thing which causes people to dismiss lisp evangelists as fundamentalists.
The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
21–26 of 26 posts
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Stereotypical Smart Bored Youth Programmer See also Jamie Zawinski's "Cascade of Attention-Deficit Teenagers": http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html
I may read it wrong, but that's quite an insult for people that do _actually_ have an attention deficit disorder.
Heh heh, perhaps they might read it as such. I'm sure that, like the article this thread is about, the author intended to make a point about a group of people by describing them in terms of the popular notion of the disorder, and didn't intend to seriously talk about people who really have the disorder. (In this case, I imagine the "teenagers" part of the description, which is directed at people who are most likely professional developers in their 20s, is meant at least as pejoratively as the "attention deficit" part.)
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is also not ADD. ADD is, among a few other things, a deficiency to guide ones concentration. Hyperfocus and repeated Hyperfocus for things you like is actually a sign of ADD. ADD people can very well do things they enjoy repeatedly and often.
It's also not something to fret over. A lot of those monikers, like ADD are thrown around with a cavalier, throw-caution-to-the-wind attitude. And I mean by doctors. Some of so-called "diseases" are actually natural responses to messed up situations (like a boring to hell school environment for a smart kid), and mostly stick as medical fads (tons of them in previous decades that are dead and burried now) and because…
You are aware that ADD is, at the current state of science, considered a difference within the brain chemistry and no "reaction" to something? You don't "develop" ADD. One requirement to diagnose ADD in high age is to prove that it was there from the beginning on, in your very first years.
And that cavalier attitude that you describe is actually very harmful to people that _do_ have ADD, especially those that continue to have it after a certain age.
Also note that "disease" is the wrong word for this. It is a condition: you have it, it won't go away, but you can work on it and build your life around it. It's not that you necessarily _suffer_. People speaking with half-knowledge about it are a popular nuisance, though.
Also, describing those things as fads is _also_ very insulting to those that do struggle with these issues.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
#24It's not bipolar, I understand those are the symptoms of ADD. Bored with everything, very high threshold for enjoyment or interest, but getting quickly bored with that same thing.
This is also not ADD. ADD is, among a few other things, a deficiency to guide ones concentration. Hyperfocus and repeated Hyperfocus for things you like is actually a sign of ADD. ADD people can very well do things they enjoy repeatedly and often.
It's not a deficiency in guiding concentration. It's the complete lack of WANTING to concentrate on boring things. That's why people with ADD can easily concentrate on a video game for hours. Clearly they can guide their concentration on things they enjoy!
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is also not ADD. ADD is, among a few other things, a deficiency to guide ones concentration. Hyperfocus and repeated Hyperfocus for things you like is actually a sign of ADD. ADD people can very well do things they enjoy repeatedly and often.
It's not a deficiency in guiding concentration. It's the complete lack of WANTING to concentrate on boring things. That's why people with ADD can easily concentrate on a video game for hours. Clearly they can guide their concentration on things they enjoy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_attention_deficit_hyperac...
Inattentive type: In adults, these evolve into:
* Delayed stop and transition of concentration from one task to another
I recommend reading some of the linked papers.
Be aware that there are multiple subgroups of ADD with quite a number of possible behaviors each. Quick boredom is only a sign for some of the patients, mostly those with Hyperactivity. You can have ADD without Hyperactivity.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer
#26I liked this article quite a bit, as I love to program in Lisp (well, Scheme) and I'm a clinician with a lot of experience treating bipolar disorder. That is, the real bipolar, which isn't what the author is talking about. The kind of behavior referred to in the article is certainly common. I've know many people who show this "crash and burn" pattern. Easily bored, distractible, procrastinators to the end. Black and…
> It's a condition
Is there a name for this condition? And how do I get rid of it exactly?
For some of the things you described (like strong reaction to criticism), I found mindfulness-based approaches to be good.
But how do control my moods and enthusiasm?