There is no such thing as "bipolar personality". People should seriously refrain from using the term bipolar when they clearly don't have any understanding of the disorder. At least he didn't get it mixed with borderline I guess.
The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
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Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#12the mosaic background of this site is stunning, i need to figure out how to generate that
It's a photo, isn't it?
I took it to be the ceiling of the dome of Hagia Sofia but I could be wrong. It definitely looks Moorish, though. A grand mosque dome of some kind.
Not saying programmatic decoration would be a bad thing -- it wouldn't! But beware: much Islamic decoration is text. It's writing. You can't just programmatically generate that.
Okay, "AI" chat bots can, but the _text_ is simple. It's the calligraphy that matters. Generating that would be very hard.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#13I quite enjoyed this article, but I reckon they're talking about ADHD rather than "bipolar" mind. Seen under that lens, I resonate with his caricature. Focus is a precious, rare resource outside my control. Mainstream languages, made for collaboration in big teams rather than maximum personal freedom, soon impose restrictions that kill hyperfocus. The "unused variable is an error" is the most egregious of them that I…
I don't think the kind of student the author is talking about has ADHD symptoms or any sort of mental illness. I think they just have different personalities - and having a certain personality than the majority of people shouldn't be considered a mental illness or disorder. People are not all the same... at what threshold do we count difference in personalities as an issue?? As long as the person can keep functioning in society without major side effects (crime, extreme isolation, depression) the person is just "normal" even if they tend to work and act differently from the average.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#14Not bipolar, but comfortably in the spectrum, and I matched the details pretty well. What he does not mention, which from my point of view is important , is the tendency to go down rabbit holes. Lisp is a shallow rabbit hole and you do get the satisfaction of getting it without an huge investment. And I do love lisp with passion, but never finished anything using it. Python is therapeutic in a way. It can get you to finish that “assignment” at last moment with less of a feeling that you should perfect it. If you are that eventually B student, do not fret, you can do quite well professionally when meaning is linked to livelihood.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#15the mosaic background of this site is stunning, i need to figure out how to generate that
I think the author would suggest painting your lentils before using the tweezers to place them :-p
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#16I quite enjoyed this article, but I reckon they're talking about ADHD rather than "bipolar" mind. Seen under that lens, I resonate with his caricature. Focus is a precious, rare resource outside my control. Mainstream languages, made for collaboration in big teams rather than maximum personal freedom, soon impose restrictions that kill hyperfocus. The "unused variable is an error" is the most egregious of them that I…
Ruby could be a good compromise. Unfortunately it lost the battle long time ago.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do wonder if I’d be diagnosed with ADHD if I didn’t already have a fairly obscure neurological disorder. My visual cortex can’t filter its own noise out properly which causes a bunch of mostly migraine-like neurological issues including apparently making my focus unreliable and forcing me to work in a very “burst-then-rest” kind of fashion, but I was already that way beforehand it just got much worse when I contrac…
This is super interesting. Thank you. Feels similar to subtle patterns in my next of kin and their inner workings. So I can read more, would you mind sharing the name of the disorder?
The disorder’s called visual snow syndrome, it’s named after the main symptom that differentiates it from other disorders which is TV-static like visual distortion but it sometimes causes a lot of other things typically associated with migraine to the point before it was studied in its own right it was assumed to be an uncommon variation of migraine; unlike migraine though for many people it doesn’t produce any pain at all, just other migraine aura like neurological symptoms. I’m not so fortunate, I get a permanent one-sided headache, brain fog, occasional derealisation episodes, photophobia (that one’s fun but fortunately I live in usually grey Britain), and that general kind of thing. It was a migraine specialist researching the condition in the UK who eventually diagnosed which was good as at the time there was a fair bit of rubbish on the internet about the condition (though that’s a lot better than it used to be, I was sixteen when I got it and all the doctors could tell me at the time was ‘we have no idea what this is but it’s not going to kill you’).
As for treatments there basically isn’t one. Among other things I experimentally microdosed quetiapine against it (under the theory dopamine might be involved) under the supervision of a doctor which basically cured the visual distortion but not the pain, but I quickly built a tolerance and binned it off because the side effects aren’t great. Some people benefit from anti-seizure medications but not everyone and the side effects can also be bleak. Fortunately medical cannabis is legal in the UK and it’s very effective against the pain, the amount of unsuccessful things I’ve tried qualifies me for it and the pain’s only a problem on very bad days now. Coding with the monofur font helps me too!
Of course everyone has some noise in their visual system, a little bit of TV static isn’t necessarily indicative of disease. For reference I struggle to read when it’s bad, and my night vision is impaired quite a bit compared to what it was before so you’d definitely notice if it was problematic.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#18I quite enjoyed this article, but I reckon they're talking about ADHD rather than "bipolar" mind. Seen under that lens, I resonate with his caricature. Focus is a precious, rare resource outside my control. Mainstream languages, made for collaboration in big teams rather than maximum personal freedom, soon impose restrictions that kill hyperfocus. The "unused variable is an error" is the most egregious of them that I…
I was wondering whether this sounded more like ADHD or ASD than "bipolar", then decided that he wasn't using the word in that sense and let it go.
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#19[deleted]
Re: The Bipolar Lisp Programmer (2007)
#20This very much describes me to a T and I've come to realize I just have ADHD and (excuse the narcissism) above average mental capacity in some subjects. Haven't gotten diagnosed yet, but both my SO and my best friend have it, and the parallels are staggering and explain a lot about my behaviour. I've developed a shit ton of personal techniques to gain some focus even when it seems impossible and engage in humility to counteract my cynicism. It's only going half well, but a hell of a lot better than in university.
Other people in this position, what did you do?