Finding a Personal Coding Trifecta 188
jammag writes "For Seinfeld's George Constanza, his dream of the ideal moment was having sex while watching TV and eating a pastrami sandwich. He called this Nirvana state 'The Trifecta.' Developer Eric Spiegel adapts this concept of Nirvana to the act of writing your best possible code. He examines all (or most) of the possible things that might contribute to the 'The Trifecta' for developers — food, beverages, time of day. Spiegel also describes his personal Trifecta."
my trifecta (Score:5, Funny)
Re:my trifecta (Score:5, Insightful)
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I second that. Take a look at this snip:
(Unless of course you are the rare female coder, but then we'd have to replace eating the pastrami sandwich with getting a manicure.)
Women can't like sandwiches? Men can't like manicures?
Re:my trifecta (Score:4, Funny)
As a member of the female species, I would like to nominate my trifecta: A healthy and nutritious alfalfa salad; some Evian water (in the branded bottle, of course); and an episode of "Sex and the City" playing in the background.
I mean, get serious. Having a manicure? Whilst trying to type? I'm not gonna let anyone be in my vicinity while I'm coding, let alone some vapid manicurist. Sheesh.
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You're the kind of girl alcopops were invented for.
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That's not how Slashdot works.
More likely, she has a few more fans...
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I agree.
my coding trifecta is more like: 3 Pints of Guinness, 2 joints. and actually there isn't a third part to it.
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Coding?
Why is no one mentioning coding itself as one of the trifecta???
Though in my case the best way for me to generate code is with a whip, a pastrami sandwich, and Slashdot. And no the whip isn't for me (what, you think I am a penetente or a masochist?) but for use on various minions.
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Coding?
Why is no one mentioning coding itself as one of the trifecta???
Exactly. The journey is the reward. I get deeper and deeper into the zone as the code settles into place.
Though, to comment on the GP, I find a joint rather counterproductive to concentration. Stumpleupon and the fridge get in the way. It is more suited to physical work like bricklaying or motorcycle maintenance. Plus, I wouldn't want to shop up with a reefer in the not-so-private smoking area of my workplace.
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Partly pleasurable with a 50% chance of death.
My Trifecta: No Boss, No Boss, No Boss (Score:5, Interesting)
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Yes ... this whole post was just to ride the tails of the headjob joke. *shame*
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Couldn't you simplify that to just
Absence of boss?
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Easily done!
Do a 35 hour week, then see point 2. Or say the API is a crock, then see point 3.
Slight negative side effect: absence of salary.
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1. A sinecure
2. "Working" from home
3. A fat paycheck
You don't get these coding though. Think an ex-politician, a diplomat, or perhaps CEO of a failed bank.
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1: Never going to happen. EVERYBODY wants a promotion or better wages or whatever. That's why you do your job good and some extra here and there.
2: That is legally not allowed. You could sue for some type of harassment (talk to your lawyer, I don't know what exactly). Get it in writing if at all possible.
3: Again, there is no reason you have to do this. If you actually do this you might find yourself without a job faster than you think as that API might just kill the company. If there is no way around 2 or
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These days, there isn't much chance of that happening. After all, it is a "workers market". There are so many jobs coming here from India and S.E. Asia, combined with a real shortage of available talent, managers aren't willing to risk annoying anyone.
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Re:pyschopath (Score:5, Funny)
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There's only one person here who's an asshole, and it certainly isn't the OP.
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If you need him explicitly stating that it's a joke to know that it is, you're not just an asshole, you're an idiot too.
And who are you to decide that someone has "serious problems" just because they like something you disapprove of? It's not like having serious depression or OCD; it doesn't negatively affect her in any way, except perhaps in that she can't talk to fine, upstanding, moralistic assholes like you about such things.
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Well, you can hardly argue that its very hygienic.
Neither is:
- Neglecting to wash your hands after you pee
- Eating food past its expiration date
- Getting bitten by mosquitoes
etc etc...
I'm not saying I agree with those actions, but are you actually saying you're morally outraged by them?
The funny thing though...you've worked yourself into a modern enlightened position of having to defend a blumpkin fan against judgmental assholes...
The funny thing is, you're making the blumpkin fan look good. Or worse, he's making you look disgusting.
note though that this argument has never been about his right to do it, or his right to talk about it...it's about whether or not it would be a sign of emotional stuntedness or anti-social tendencies.
To suggest that it is, is simply moronic.
Take your initial assumption that the girl is doing this against her will. What if she's not? Then who's a
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Who shit in your Cheerios (while getting a blow job obviously) to make you grumpy?
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Well then you really don't want to hear my trifecta. It involves choking people without a sense of humor to death by ramming my cock, covered in shit, down their throat, and that's just the first part!
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words can never hurt thee...if I'm wrong about his character, no one's worse for the wear.
It still makes you a prejudiced cunt.
Oh, and yes, words can hurt people. That's why we have laws for things like slander, libel, and discrimination.
and now perhaps I also called someone on defending something appalling and brushing it off as a joke when in fact they are into it.
If so, what does that accomplish?
By the way, I found that funny, and I personally find scat disgusting. Had to take a stool sample recently, had to keep leaving the room for air...
Not that it matters, given at least 5 mods found it funny, and at least one found your comment to be trollish.
it lets me know who the fucked up people are.
I'll give you a hint.
Look in the mirror.
Oblig (Score:5, Funny)
yum, stereotypes! (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow, way to avoid reinforcing stereotypes there, Eric!
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Heh! Absolutely.
I may be risking all my claims to femininity here, but for me it's Dr. Pepper, Pizza, and Steve Reich coming out of the speakers. (N.B. "coming out of the speakers" refers only to Steve Reich, not to the soda or the pie.)
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Music for 18 Coders.
BTW, most guys wouldn't misinterpret the bit about food 'coming' through the speakers...
Just sayin' is all.
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Steve Reich? Come away with me and have lesbian codebabies.
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I cannot believe I actually learned something good in this thread. Never heard of Steve Reich, but this is so my kinda coding music.
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trifecta (Score:2)
1) Large cup of milk tea (Marks and Spencers gold)
2) WXPN saved 5hr weekly stream of Starsend (http://www.starsend.org/ [starsend.org])
3) Emacs + happy hacking keyboard
Mix & voila, you get 100+k of low level fw that is used in 100's of million chips on chip roms.
H.
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Whatever makes you happy is the important part.
And writing good code will make your life easier than writing sloppy code since the sloppy code will haunt you forever.
Just being able to avoid those 02:00 in the morning calls the day before an important event accounts for a lot. A clear conscience makes you sleep well and have time over for your favorite actions. If that resolves to painting, making love or hunting that's a different issue.
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My band played live on Stars End five years ago. Chuck's one of the nicest blokes you could ever wish to meet.
Re:trifecta (Score:5, Informative)
1) Very large glass of water (I'll lose concentration shortly after it runs out)
2) Relative quiet, not many people walking around or making phone calls.
3) My favourite coding music (psytrance or futurepop, depending on my mood)
Also important
4) Knowing I'm unlikely to be disturbed, and that I'm not being watched.
5) No imminent deadline (be that the project deadline, or the told-Ben-I'd-go-to-the-cinema-at-7 deadline).
6) Some fresh air and exercise (cycling to work, and walking round a nearby public garden/park at lunchtime).
I think most important is
0) A good sleep the night before.
Call me Old Fashioned (Score:2)
hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
while the article is lame, the subject is not.
More important than what you need to get into your zone (because I think we all know how this works for our own needs), is how do you explain this to others who do not understand "the zone"?
The hardest part for me is getting others to respect my zone. They just don't understand. For kids, you can't really blame them. You just have to stay out of sight and out of mind. But for the adults, they often just don't get it.
The biggest "zone breakers" are interruptions of any kind or duration. Having to stop for even one minute to take a call or acknowledge a communication can break your flow completely and it can take time to get back into gear. I think there have even been studies showing it takes some 15 minutes average to get back.
And of course this applies to anyone doing something highly creative or thoughtful.
Re:hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
The biggest "zone breakers" are interruptions of any kind or duration. Having to stop for even one minute to take a call or acknowledge a communication can break your flow completely and it can take time to get back into gear. I think there have even been studies showing it takes some 15 minutes average to get back.
That's one reason I hate working in a busy office environment: most workplaces seem to encourage people to interrupt each other. There's always a meeting, or a phone call, somebody wanting your attention, or some "emergency" knocking you out of a state in which you can make any progress.
It seems to me that it's a lot easier to get difficult things done at home where I can unplug the phone and internet connection and just work. It's better for others, too--if a good random idea pops into my head, it can sit in my outgoing mailbox queue instead of egging me on to walk over to someone's office/cubicle and interrupting their work.
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>
The biggest "zone breakers" are interruptions of any kind or duration. Having to stop for even one minute to take a call or acknowledge a communication can break your flow completely and it can take time to get back into gear. I think there have even been studies showing it takes some 15 minutes average to get back.
While I agree 90% of what you just said, I always find that a zone break is something I want after a few hours, without realizing I want it. Zone breaks, mind is distracted by something else, I go back a little refreshed. Yeah, it takes me a bit of time to get into that trance like state of mind, but I get there by checking what I just did in the previous trance. Sometimes when you hit that trance like state, mistakes creep in, or you forget to comment something. That little break helps me get through those
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That's why God invented smoking. To make programmers take a Zone break.
I believe that programmers are allowed to claim the price of cigarettes as a work expense while doing taxes.
Smokedy smoke smoke smoke. ... I quit long ago but do remember solving some problems in the five minutes away from the screen.
Some folks don't need a zone (Score:3, Informative)
Professional:
Someone who can do his very best work, even when he doesn't feel like it.
Re:Some folks don't need a zone (Score:5, Funny)
Professional: Someone who can do his very best work, even when he doesn't feel like it
n.
1) A fabled mythical creature.
2) A robot.
Re:Some folks don't need a zone (Score:5, Interesting)
Only the mediocre are always at their best. (Jean Giraudoux)
Re:Some folks don't need a zone (Score:5, Insightful)
If somebody can do their best work at the drop of a hat, no matter how they feel, I'd venture a guess that their best isn't very good.
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Or a a couple of other ways of putting it:
Mediocrity:
The ability to do your best work, all the time.
Mediocrity:
When your best work is no better than your worst.
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Where did you get that ? Some HR or other corporate motivational poster ?
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Whoever that professional is, they mustn't do a very difficult job. Honestly, the idea that anyone can perform a mentally intensive task at a peak level of performance at the drop of a hat is laughable at best.
simple (Score:5, Insightful)
A few days of a free schedule, no interruptions, and a private, quiet workspace will do the trick for me.
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Best:
First thing in the morning, before anybody else is in the office.
Most useful (but likely lowest quality):
During a minor emergency.
I wrote a little script to remake an important file we lost. It was horribly written, but it saved us a lot of time re-typing the file by hand. (Yes, it should have been backed up.)
I find writing something rarely happens all at once. A little distraction keeps me from focusing too much on one way of solving a problem, but silence can be really nice sometimes too.
What's the one thing I need to code? (Score:5, Insightful)
Go away...
No, seriously, just go away...
three for me (Score:5, Interesting)
1) A clear notion of the task at hand (very rare in most work places)
2) An interesting problem to solve (even more rare)
3) The ability to focus. No interruptions or noise.
The third one, however is so damn rare, that if I were granted it.. I'd be most reticent to push my luck by asking for the first two. The laughter of upper management alone will certainly be loud enough to wake me from the day dream.
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Excellent point, especially about interesting problems.
Not coding per se, but I also find that I enjoy doing things and dedicating myself to them if the problems are interesting enough. I'm not talking about work, though, just things I do on my personal time.
For instance, sometime back, I went through a phase of modding my motorcycle - I did everything imaginable, pulled it apart, added custom mods, added jets, changed the exhaust, tuned performance to be race quality, modded the suspension, included angel/
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Umm, motorcycle carburetor jetting [google.com] isn't quite the same.
Here's mine: (Score:3, Interesting)
1. 11 pm.
2. Good headphones.
3. Good music.
TRIfecta? (Score:4, Insightful)
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My response to reading this article (Score:1, Funny)
SERENITY NOW!
How about...QUIET?? (Score:4, Insightful)
He completely overlooked this - in fact, I found this comment rather amusing: "...so I can take little mental breaks and sing along." Around coworkers. Whom, he assumes, have their earbuds in. They may have their earbuds in, but it might be that they are pursuing the lesser of two completely undesirable options. I used to think like he did - that I needed music in order to code. After trying a little experiment where I went without for a while, I realized how much I had been kidding myself. I am now a strong believer that there's nothing like a quiet environment for allowing one to focus on their work.
My Trifecta (Score:3, Informative)
1) Inspiration and motivation. (The project is appealing with interesting and stimulating challenges.)
2) Optimism. (The project has clear and attainable goals. I look forward to completion because I think it'll be a great product.)
3) Competition and Recognition. (My project is going head to head with someone else's and or might receive recognition. I'll work faster. I'll be less likely to lose Optimism or Motivation and it'll challenge me to push beyond the comfort zone.)
Mine: (Score:2)
My Three (Score:5, Interesting)
The first is best in low to medium doses, anything more than that and I'm too wired to really focus. Best served green and carbonated or with equal amounts of milk and sugar. The second falls under the category of "repetitive music with few to no lyrics." The third can actually stand apart from the second because I've found that even if I'm not actually listening to anything at the time people see the headphones and (usually) give a second thought to bothering me, especially at work. Finally the deadline is a big factor because like many people I seem to produce my best code under pressure.
Of course it also helps to have tools that I don't have to fight against to get things done, time away from my coworkers (who are usually great fun, which is actually the problem), and no constant email interruptions.
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Ditto on the deadline... I'm just one of those people that needs to be told that it'll get reviewed at 6PM Thursday.
I tend to have two kinds of bosses:
The second kind is a bit maddening, because
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Heh, as long as they're consistent with the cancellation and I know how much time I'll have to idle on slashdot... err I mean get my documentation done ;-)
My problem with that approach is that once the deadline has been reached that is typically the code-freeze, so tweaking isn't even possible (even though I usually want to). I'd much rather have the boss that points at the calendar and says "have this much done by then" and actually sticks with that. The deadline helps me focus, but throwing the schedule
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I agree that one doesn't need to add sugar to good coffee (and if it were bad enough to warrant it, I'd rather go without), but I do like a good cafe latte.
air, sound, flow, cherry (Score:1)
1. Air; fresh air; that's why I work outside when I can
2. soothing background noise, i.e. (my favorite) music, birds singing, water flowing
3. no disruptions. ever.
4. Cherry keyboard.
Got it all nowadays. The reflecting-laptop-monitor-problem can be solved with an external monitor.
My 3 (Score:4, Interesting)
1. night
2. near total silence
3. no other people awake in the vicinity
I have found that these three help me to focus on my task and nothing else. No distractions, no obligations to anyone and the silent hum of my pc help me to focus on my goal, whatever it might be.
This is fully personal however and other people may find this the most displeasent way to be productive. This might not be the ideal situation for me but I feel very comfortable and it can be reached quite easily once a day.
If these conditions are fulfilled and I am devoted to my task I can get some good work done. My problem is that I need to reach a certain waypoint in my work or else I can have a sleepless night thinking about how to finish it.
I would also add... (Score:3, Insightful)
Link broken (Score:2)
Why are you encouraging Spiegel ? (Score:2, Interesting)
For those of you just tuning in, while I do not personally know Eric Spiegel, I have been exposed to a number of his articles and it's pretty damned obvious that this kid's not a "Real Programmer (tm)". He comes off like every other brown-nosing no-talent assclown, always quick to criticize the people and things his boxed mind cannot encompass. Maybe he's jealous, as he consistently advocates the use of "corporate discipline" to combat "dangerous elements" in the workplace, with dangerous meaning "smarter
My "trifecta" (Score:1, Interesting)
For me, it has to be around night time, raining outside, moderately windy, moon shining.
Listening to some classical music.
Some nice cool water.
And as strange as it seems, with a little pain... (sore head as an example)
I'm 2/4 there just now. (yes, 1/2, blah)
I have a nice cold drink, and sore head.
My code at the moment is pretty decent, been writing a gridmaker for generating 2D maps.
Was thinking of porting it to JavaScript since it would be so much easier to work with. (since it does involve it massively in
Only two things required... (Score:1)
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#include /* This program was one that I thought up, no it was John D that thought it up
but I had all the great ideas, like that one about unfolding the loop to save
a few cycles under the most common circumstances, but then I suppose he DID come
up with the overall plan but hell anyone can do that. Heh reminds me of that time
Vera in Team Turtle came up with a plan for a program. But then she really isn't
all that great but she came up with it all the same. But John just wrote it down
and I supplied all the grea
Footrest (Score:1)
For whatever reason, sitting in a chair normally causes my legs to ache. I must have RLS or something. Unfortunately my current desk arrangement doesn't allow for me to elevate my legs other than to put them on my desk... which I do almost all of the time.
So, I guess:
Footrest, chair with back support, laptop with mouse.
Standing up is also comfortable for a while at times.
really? REALLY? (Score:1)
How I would like to acheive Nerdvana (Score:2)
#1 Management off my case, leave me alone, no restrictions on what I can and cannot code.
#2 Coworkers stop bugging me about their problems and how I should fix them for them, to take away valuable time from my own problems to fix and programs to write.
#3 Analysis and design that actually makes sense and is easy to follow. Not vague legalspeak and not "make it look like Outlook" and other BS.
If I didn't have 1 through 3, I could have reached a coding Nerdvana and that would have been my Trifecta.
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So let me sum it up... 1) No accountability 2) Not a team player and too good to help others and 3) Not willing to interact with non-technical people.
Okay, then! Remind me never to hire you.
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I don't mind it, but it gets in my way of getting work done.
#1 No OOP used per management policy, like programming with a hand tied behind my back.
#2 Coworkers offloading their work onto me, because they cannot do it. Fixing their problems takes away time for me to do my own work.
#3 Non-Technical people who have no business doing analysis and design come up with ideas that don't work or cannot be done because they don't follow any logic or reasoning. I have to end up doing the analysis and design on my own.
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I am not saying I should work alone, only that #1 through #3 limit what I can do and how I can work and takes away time via "distractions" for the work I am assigned to by dealing with a lot of "Bad Karma" from coworkers, managers, and non-technical people.
I mean I can work that way, but I would not be able to reach my true potential that way. The only way to reach one's true potential is to eliminate all distractions and limitations from their path. In other words in order to free my mind, all distractions
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Like every other Geek and Nerd, when I do the social skills stuff, it limits my technical skills stuff.
I would completely disagree with this. Having good social skills helps me to communicate my technical ideas to all sorts of people. This includes explaining complicated subjects to people with less technical knowledge in a way they can understand. It also means being able to ask intelligent questions and communicate with equally technical people.
There is not an inverse relationship between technical and so
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I think you are right and I need to work on my social skills. I need to be able to work with others and still reach my own true potential. Any suggestions on how to do that?
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It is not that I am hostile to helping other people, it is just that sometimes I need to be left alone to work on my own projects without constant interruptions.
I am glad to help out other people, but not to the point that it takes up 100% of my time doing so and leaves no time to work on my own projects. It would be great if it was 50%/50% or some reasonable ratio.
Just that most places I worked at, they couldn't do their jobs without me constantly helping others. But I could work by myself without needing
The Anti-Trifecta (Score:2)
1. Boss interrupts every hour with "just a little thing. This customer is experiencing a problem. Can you fix it for them?"
2. Boss puts team of developers together in big room, with the "belly-laugh sales guy", confident that this will encourage productivity and connectedness with the customer's issues.
3. Boss evaluates your progress on the new user interface you can show him today, and how it is so much better and more complete than the one you showed him yesterday. "Architecture is for later when we can a
Expectations? (Score:1)
And it got me to thinking: What's the perfect combination of these outside factors that helps each developer succeed beyond expectations?
Answer: Low expectations.
Why trifecta? (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't think any programmer can narrow down only two factors (plus coding) that comprise the nexus of programming. that number is u
Mine (Score:4, Interesting)
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I just took the driver's seat and made an adapter out of 2x4s to mount it to the base of an actual sturdy desk chair. Most directions that I've found online involve welding and tapping threads to adapt the chair base to bolt to the metal frame of the car seat. Just gather some parts and give it about 3 hours of head scratching. You'll figure it out.
On the plus side, I left the seatbelt on it. That's for the occasions I want to go fast on the interwebs!
I like... (Score:2)
An omelet, tea and quiet (Score:2)
psychology (Score:2)
Old school motivation (Score:2)
If you don't prototype, you better unit test twice; cocaine.
Write that line, write that line, write that line; cocaine.
If your routine is hung, and you have to debug; cocaine.
When your coding is done, but it still will not run; cocaine.
Write that line, write that line, write that line; cocaine.
If your SCC's gone, and you want to write on; cocaine.
Forget this fact - you can't get it back; cocaine.
Write that line, write that line, write that
Trifecta? I didn't know Jessica Alba (Score:5, Funny)
had two identical sisters.
Time of day (Score:2)
Of the factors listed, time of day is the most important to me. I generally have a horrible time maintaining my concentration around 3-4 PM (actually, I have a hard time even staying awake in the office around that time), but I can code like a ninja at all other times of the day, particularly in the morning. I hit my peak concentration at about 11 AM. That goes not just for coding, but for taking exams, giving presentations, playing at concerts, etc.
(There is irony that I'm posting this on Slashdot @ 11:20
Hijacking your thread... (Score:2)
... so that I can avoid all the noise below this post.
1. Coding (TFA marks this as a constant for this discussion)
2. Stimulants (Cigarettes, a 2L bottle of soda and another 2L that I know is waiting for me in the fridge)
3. Music (Indie/Alternative Rock on Pandora so that I know to stand up and stretch once an hour when it asks if I'm still listening)
Re: (Score:2)
1. Alt
2. SysRQ
3. R E I S U B
4. (optional) cross fingers
You insensitive clod!