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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

#61

Post by dylan604 »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #18
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.

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.

> It was some study about usage of cocaine

I’m seeing the flaw with the study. Use a better drug. Cocaine gave us the 80s. In a re-appropriating of a phrase, just say no. Much rather had two 70s and skipped right to the 90s

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#62

Post by epolanski »

mass_and_energy wrote: post #30
epolanski wrote: post #13

I have coded many times when high (very rarely on somebody's dime, but it may have happened during Covid few times): you end up doing very little. Occasionally you'll have some crazy idea and follow it, the kind of ideas that you don't have normally. But in general your productivity will be very low and results poor. Don't do any kind of drugs or alcohol if you need your brain to be sharp. It's nonsense.

Hear hear, if you think you're coding better when you're stoned, you're only thinking that when you're stoned. Studies have shown that while cannabis makes you think you're more creative, it actually makes you less creative. This, combined with losing train of thought and having to reread code to find your place before you zoned out makes for a whole lot of wasted time. And it churns out the kind of code you revisit…

I didn't say I code better when stoned, I literally said it's not a good idea.

I said that I end up doing stuff that I usually don't, that's a different thing.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#64

Post by [deleted] »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #50
epolanski wrote: post #13

I have coded many times when high (very rarely on somebody's dime, but it may have happened during Covid few times): you end up doing very little. Occasionally you'll have some crazy idea and follow it, the kind of ideas that you don't have normally. But in general your productivity will be very low and results poor. Don't do any kind of drugs or alcohol if you need your brain to be sharp. It's nonsense.

> you end up doing very little Speak for yourself The study is also not about user-facing software development, it's about leetcode algorithmic puzzles as performed mostly by students still in education and without professional experience. Despite their prevalence in interviews and impassioned defense of relevancy, at least I encounter very little of that sort of coding in day to day applications development of any s…

[deleted]

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#65

Post by [deleted] »

janis1234 wrote: post #37

Don't really need a study for something you can figure out fairly easily on your own. I tried to smoke and program probably 3 times and results were always the same. Significantly less productive. Started working on tasks not aligned with larger goal. Had many ideas that seemed amazing at the time and later found out to be dumb. In that sense it is creative enhancement in that you consider more idea, but just in gene…

[deleted]

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#67

Post by [deleted] »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #16
epolanski wrote: post #13

I have coded many times when high (very rarely on somebody's dime, but it may have happened during Covid few times): you end up doing very little. Occasionally you'll have some crazy idea and follow it, the kind of ideas that you don't have normally. But in general your productivity will be very low and results poor. Don't do any kind of drugs or alcohol if you need your brain to be sharp. It's nonsense.

that's me on a normal day without ADHD meds... and even then if I'm in a depressive funk, I can't think for shit. Hyper focus though can be glorious and make me feel like a 10x programmer for a few days lol..

[deleted]

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#68

Post by cfr2023 »

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?

Everyone? It's about the real and hidden costs.

If your employees are stressed to the point of burnout and are turning over every few months, do you think new trainees will make more or less errors than experienced employees under the influence of cannabis?

Will their training costs be more or less than the errors made by the person using cannabis?

As the employee, if you are stressed out and hitting a wall, and suddenly imbibing cannabis motivates you to continue working more than 10 cups of coffee would, but without the jitters, that seems like a better outcome than simply feeling terrible and also not getting the job done.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#69

Post by epolanski »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #16
epolanski wrote: post #13

I have coded many times when high (very rarely on somebody's dime, but it may have happened during Covid few times): you end up doing very little. Occasionally you'll have some crazy idea and follow it, the kind of ideas that you don't have normally. But in general your productivity will be very low and results poor. Don't do any kind of drugs or alcohol if you need your brain to be sharp. It's nonsense.

that's me on a normal day without ADHD meds... and even then if I'm in a depressive funk, I can't think for shit. Hyper focus though can be glorious and make me feel like a 10x programmer for a few days lol..

When did you start taking adhd meds? I've noticed many many americans start as children and then basically can't function as adults without meds.

This is very rare in Europe.

Re: An observational study of programming and cannabis intoxication

#70

Post by mistrial9 »

Stratoscope wrote: post #45

Back in the day, maybe 30-40 years ago, when possession of any amount of cannabis could get you thrown in jail, we needed a code phrase to use when we called a friend to ask if they had any. So we would ask: "Do you have any programmer's fuel?" Also related, the phrase "fire an event" is a cannabis reference: https://retool.com/visual-basic

captain crunch would say "execute a nine-N instruction".. ask Woz! also the frat guy coders at Apple would openly hate on Andy Hertzfeld, who insufficiently hid his affection for an occasional toke in Palo Alto
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