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The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

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Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#11

Post by JohnFen »

gchamonlive wrote: post #5
JohnFen wrote: post #2

> But the overall synesthesia? I have no idea. I assume that most people have some form of it? As unfounded as that is. I don't get the physical reactions that the author describes, but when I'm in the zone, I literally stop seeing or being aware of the screen, keyboard, etc. and start "seeing" groups of geometric shapes that interact with each other in my mind. The nature of that doesn't change according to the lang…

Which languages do you code in? Because for me the available mental structures I can use to think are radically different when I code in golang as compared to elixir, just because they have radically different paradigms for approaching data transformation.

I am competent or better in about 10 languages (a couple in each of the major programming paradigms), but in my current position I primarily use C, C++, and Python. I don't know golang or elixir.

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#12

Post by JohnFen »

genmon wrote: post #7
JohnFen wrote: post #2

> But the overall synesthesia? I have no idea. I assume that most people have some form of it? As unfounded as that is. I don't get the physical reactions that the author describes, but when I'm in the zone, I literally stop seeing or being aware of the screen, keyboard, etc. and start "seeing" groups of geometric shapes that interact with each other in my mind. The nature of that doesn't change according to the lang…

Fascinating! Is the mental picture a side effect, or do you feel like it helps you reason about/manipulate the shape of the code?

It seems to be a side effect. It doesn't help me in any obvious way. However, when it's happening then I've also ceased to be conscious of writing code. It just flows of its own volition.

I mean, I know I'm writing code, but I'm not consciously seeing, analyzing, formulating, or typing in code.

Edited to add: On reflection, the geometric vision does actually help me sometimes. When there's something wrong with the code I've written (be it a syntax or logical error), then the shapes react in a way that I'll call "dissonant". I pay attention to that signal and more consciously analyze what I've just done, to find the error.

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#13

Post by skydhash »

genmon wrote: post #7
JohnFen wrote: post #2

> But the overall synesthesia? I have no idea. I assume that most people have some form of it? As unfounded as that is. I don't get the physical reactions that the author describes, but when I'm in the zone, I literally stop seeing or being aware of the screen, keyboard, etc. and start "seeing" groups of geometric shapes that interact with each other in my mind. The nature of that doesn't change according to the lang…

Fascinating! Is the mental picture a side effect, or do you feel like it helps you reason about/manipulate the shape of the code?

It helps in my case. Bash is all about text so you just see text being output and manipulated. Something like lisp is about lists and eval, so you mostly see those and equivalent expressions. With something like React, there’s this tree representation of state that is always on your mind.

It’s a more abstract representation than code. Not as fixed, but helps greatly with designing the next steps.

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#15

Post by JohnFen »

k__ wrote: post #4
JohnFen wrote: post #2

> But the overall synesthesia? I have no idea. I assume that most people have some form of it? As unfounded as that is. I don't get the physical reactions that the author describes, but when I'm in the zone, I literally stop seeing or being aware of the screen, keyboard, etc. and start "seeing" groups of geometric shapes that interact with each other in my mind. The nature of that doesn't change according to the lang…

Yes, I start visualising the machinery too. Similarly to reading a novel. At one point the text becomes background and I start seeing the scenes in my mind.

Oh, that's an excellent analogy. I think I'll steal that!

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#16

Post by AnimalMuppet »

JohnFen wrote: post #2

> But the overall synesthesia? I have no idea. I assume that most people have some form of it? As unfounded as that is. I don't get the physical reactions that the author describes, but when I'm in the zone, I literally stop seeing or being aware of the screen, keyboard, etc. and start "seeing" groups of geometric shapes that interact with each other in my mind. The nature of that doesn't change according to the lang…

I do the same, but I don't recall if I ever do it at the editor. I do the "shapes" thing when thinking about code design problems. (And not because I'm thinking in XML.)

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#17

Post by genmon »

jebarker wrote: post #10

For others that found the website design made it difficult to read the post: there's a "quiet mode" button at the top right.

(blog post author here) I added Quiet Mode because of the feedback last time one of my posts hit HN, it was chaos haha

(btw you can hit / to enter cursor chat, it's fun if a bit distracting)

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#18

Post by genmon »

JohnFen wrote: post #12
genmon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating! Is the mental picture a side effect, or do you feel like it helps you reason about/manipulate the shape of the code?

It seems to be a side effect. It doesn't help me in any obvious way. However, when it's happening then I've also ceased to be conscious of writing code. It just flows of its own volition. I mean, I know I'm writing code, but I'm not consciously seeing, analyzing, formulating, or typing in code. Edited to add: On reflection, the geometric vision does actually help me sometimes. When there's something wrong with the co…

The reason I ask: there's a story about a physicist who was so kinaesthetic in his thinking that somebody walked into his office to find him rolling around on the floor, trying to embody rotations from the point of view of a particular system or something...

I can't say that my own subjective feelings while coding are so useful! But I like to imagine that they're a meaningful contributor to my "taste" of what good/bad looks like

(Wish I could track down the reference)

Re: The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages (2023)

#19

Post by JohnFen »

genmon wrote: post #18
JohnFen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be a side effect. It doesn't help me in any obvious way. However, when it's happening then I've also ceased to be conscious of writing code. It just flows of its own volition. I mean, I know I'm writing code, but I'm not consciously seeing, analyzing, formulating, or typing in code. Edited to add: On reflection, the geometric vision does actually help me sometimes. When there's something wrong with the co…

The reason I ask: there's a story about a physicist who was so kinaesthetic in his thinking that somebody walked into his office to find him rolling around on the floor, trying to embody rotations from the point of view of a particular system or something... I can't say that my own subjective feelings while coding are so useful! But I like to imagine that they're a meaningful contributor to my "taste" of what good/ba…

I certainly don't get as deep as that physicist, but I do think I understand. When I'm working out a difficult logical/data/programmatic problem, then I use my hands in a similar way. I'll form hand shapes that in my mind represent geometric shapes and physically use my hands to "arrange" them in various ways until something "clicks" in my head. That "click" isn't the win of finding a solution, but more like a feeling that I have now grasped the true essence of the problem.
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