With the recent public talk and growing awareness about marijuana and the failed policies against it, it occurred to me it would be interesting to get an idea of how many fellow programmers use marijuana and how it affects their work. I find it specially positive in my work, as an aid to better concentration and also greater creativity.
Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
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Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#2'use'? somehow it seems so innocuous that 'use' is way to strong a word that said, not me. marijuana makes me stupid to the point i forget i have muscles.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#3Not I. Cannot stand the stench of it.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#4I agree. Up to a point, it seems to have a beneficial effect. Especially in design, perhaps not so much when it comes to data modeling and logic.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#5I havn't in a little over a year now. Current company drug tests and I enjoy a paycheck more than I enjoy getting high.
That said, I do very much enjoy it and have had some "breakthroughs" related to coding projects while high. Moderation is key, it can be great for helping you think about things differently, but if you overdo it, you can certainly do more harm than good.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#6This should be a poll, you're unlikely to get a comment from most people on this issue.
Use http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll to create a new poll.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#7It might only be giving you the illusion of helping. Can you benchmark test yourself with and without it?
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#8I agree. Up to a point, it seems to have a beneficial effect. Especially in design, perhaps not so much when it comes to data modeling and logic.
Ironically, while you're probably correct in programming design, I'm a national master in chess(which requires reasoning and logic), and I know about a handful of chess masters(FM/IM/GM's) that actually smoke dope. Allegedly, it helps to mentally slow the game down and reason each move out into their potential move branches. In the time allowed, they're able to visualize moves several iterations on down and concentrate better on mentally traversing them to figure out their best move.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#9Yeah, make this a Poll, and I might 'fess up. Did I say that?
Re: Ask HN: How many of you (coders) use marijuana?
#10Only to relax. I know some architects / senior coders who can concentrate better while high, but for me remembering what you did / thought about several minutes ago is more important than unnatural thinking.
Maybe it just takes more practice...