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An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

arxiv.org

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Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#51

Post by latency-guy2 »

jesselawson wrote: post #17

All good and great but I think it’s a bit misleading. The participants were asked to do LeetCode—which limits this study to the suggested effects of cannabis on arbitrary and abstract programming tasks.

In terms of programming, LeetCode is quite likely to be harder than your day job.

Most developers mid level and upwards from majority of the companies I have held a role in are not spending the majority of their day coding, they're writing specs, doing meetings, providing guidance to their junior counterparts, assisting in support tickets on call, and if you had time, documentation. You were quite lucky to meet 30% time in any day/week/month/year spent writing code. The vast majority of developers were also not developing new, foundational code either.

So I disagree, its not misleading, its actually relevant, and arguably even more mentally stimulating than all the cruft that you actually do every day. At the least you're reusing and thinking about all the DSA knowledge everyone has lost touch with from decades ago.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#52

Post by mellutussa »

delichon wrote: post #19
perihelions wrote: post #12

- "enhances creativity and focus" Wait, how do you make cannabis enhance task focus? I'm unfamiliar

I once got stoned and watched a washing machine wash a load from start to finish. Utterly fascinating and no way I'd have that focus unaltered. It's not clear whether it was a good use of time though.

Personally I think the trick is to find it interesting. If I find something very interesting I can focus on it for hours on end.

Perhaps the stoning material of choice alters what you find very interesting.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#53

Post by hyperadvanced »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #31
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was some study about usage of cocaine. That's why using drugs is really stupid, they don't enhance your capabilities, they simply give you an illusion of that.

Different drugs are different. Lumping them all together is dangerous: - Kids who discover that one wasn't a big deal will then be motivated to try others and see what else they were lied to about (I did, got around to most of my checklist too). - Taboo about drugs in general prevents harm-mitigating conversations from happening that might protect someone from one specific drug or another (I turned out ok because of…

I really really really don’t like the “ideas are harmful” bent of your comment. Saying “drugs are bad” doesn’t harm anyone, even if you disagree, or think that it’s reductive or off base (because it is). Kids who grow up in homes where “harm mitigation” include sanctioned marijuana and alcohol use have worse outcomes than those who don’t.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#54

Post by temp0826 »

cfr2023 wrote: post #24

It does seem that people would wrongly associate the artificial influx of positive/warm feelings coming from a cannabis with increased task performance. Not unlike how people overestimate their own strength when drinking alcohol etc. However, if it decreases their performance but improves their feelings towards the work, might that still be a net positive? In other words, if you are going to be a little more pokey an…

Is it better to medicate than make steps ("thinking about changing jobs") towards being happy sober?

I'm not against people using cannabis, I just don't think this is the right frame. It shouldn't be a bandaid for being in a bad situation and it's kind of sad if one would give up their aspirations for betterment because the high masks them caring enough about it.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#55

Post by doktrin »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #46
cfr2023 wrote: post #24

It does seem that people would wrongly associate the artificial influx of positive/warm feelings coming from a cannabis with increased task performance. Not unlike how people overestimate their own strength when drinking alcohol etc. However, if it decreases their performance but improves their feelings towards the work, might that still be a net positive? In other words, if you are going to be a little more pokey an…

Better for who?

I suppose there’s no certainty when dealing with a vague hypothetical, but probably both employer and employee? It’s not as if burnout and quitting is in anyone’s interest.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#57

Post by devmor »

perihelions wrote: post #28
delichon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once got stoned and watched a washing machine wash a load from start to finish. Utterly fascinating and no way I'd have that focus unaltered. It's not clear whether it was a good use of time though.

Yeah, but you can translate that into constructive focus on the level of normal high-level tasks such as programming, or reading, or mathematics or music or things of that sort?

For programming specifically I think that the majority of the time, most of us are not solving novel problems.

There is probably a scale of complexity to triviality of task in which it hinders or helps respectively.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#58

Post by dylan604 »

cfr2023 wrote: post #24

It does seem that people would wrongly associate the artificial influx of positive/warm feelings coming from a cannabis with increased task performance. Not unlike how people overestimate their own strength when drinking alcohol etc. However, if it decreases their performance but improves their feelings towards the work, might that still be a net positive? In other words, if you are going to be a little more pokey an…

My coding under the influence is for shit. Most times after trying this, I’ve had to redo what was done as it no longer makes sense and rarely worked. It was the epitome of the phrase “were you high?”

The opposite happens though for the more creative computer usage like video/photo editing, graphic design etc. there have been some severely boring projects that kept me procrastinating, but made tolerable with an influenced state

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#59

Post by treetalker »

Etheryte wrote: post #14

Can't recall where I read this off the top of my head, but wasn't a similar idea tested with musicians? If memory serves correct, the results were that while high, the musicians thought what they were making was great, but when they later revisited it when sober, they thought it was rubbish.

Relevant Family Guy:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0P6yXcjX4

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#60

Post by sitkack »

fsociety wrote: post #39
perihelions wrote: post #12

- "enhances creativity and focus" Wait, how do you make cannabis enhance task focus? I'm unfamiliar

It’s a subpar way to treat ADHD and similar issues with focus/attention. Subpar because other medications or non-medication treatments are usually better - but many use it as an accidental coping mechanism.

You can get way more focus by going for a walk and/or taking a cold shower.
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