I always find that I can spend hours trying to solve a tricky algorithm and then when I finally give up and go to bed I think of the answer. It happend earlier this week where I was trying to put a NOT operator into a boolean expression parse tree, hours I spent trying then two minutes in bed and the solution popped into my head.

Early evening I'm the most productive.

Early morning (like 5:00am early) I get sleepless and most eager to code, but I think slow.

Mid morning to afternoon I want to be outside (Northern California sun is a terrible thing to waste)..

I find after a hard, long programming session my language is poor and my English comments do not make sense.

I believe programming takes some shutting off of parts of your brain, so your coding brain (which mostly involves fast, accurate switching within a limited mental domain) can concentrate.

Hardcore programmers who want to do well in other activities such as business, design, anything to do with the humanities, would do well to give his brain a balanced diet of activities.

I used to be that way. Maybe I've just gotten old or maybe I've become too much of an insomniac, but nowadays it seems that my best code comes out after beating myself up at the gym for a couple hours. I think it has a lot to do with just letting your subconscious work on the problem for a while. I remember hearing a story about a famous scientist who was working on an incredibly difficult problem. Every night he would dream about a lecture on the problem. In the dream he was lecturing himself, and every night he would remember more and more of the lecture until eventually he remembered the whole thing.

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Original post by Patbert I always find that I can spend hours trying to solve a tricky algorithm and then when I finally give up and go to bed I think of the answer. It happend earlier this week where I was trying to put a NOT operator into a boolean expression parse tree, hours I spent trying then two minutes in bed and the solution popped into my head.

This happens to me ALL the time, waking up with the answer, much to my girlfriends annoyance :)

The other day I spent about an hour trying to find a way to fix a face selection bug in my map editor, I gave up, went downstairs and started washing up. Within 2 minutes the answer popped into my head I had to leave everything and run back upstairs (my housemates thought i'd finally given in to insanity).

Why does this happen? Is it because when you are sat at a PC you have limited inspiration, and when you go some where else something will inspire you, perhaps on a subconcious level? Maybe the brain isnt designed to work in the same situation for a long period of time?

Luke.

if I cannot solve the problem, I will keep sitting in front of my computer for many hours until I get the clue. If still cannot find any clue, I will go to sleep while still thinking of how to solve the problem. I think I am weird. lol

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Original post by Psychedelico I think I am weird. lol

Read the other replies and get to the conclusion: You're normal ;-)

The brain does spazz out after about 40 minutes of working hard that much is fact. In some schools in England they even give students small breaks every half an hour to allow for this.

You guys should look up Tony Buzan he's written quite a lot on this subject. General tips for more brain power (better code?) include plenty of water, lots of regular little breaks and apparently some exercise before you start working.

Which is why I drink coffee like a fish drinks water, work for 12 hours solid (yeah lame by most standards) and haven't exercised in the last month.

What interests me is that some coders seem to thrive in this condition, which probably means that the effects of liquid, rest and exercise can be most accurately charted on a sin wave and the normal brain potential rest at about 0.5; If you drink water rest etc the potential goes upto about 0.75.

If you just abuse your brain a little bit ie less than 20 cups of coffee a day, 7 hours sleep and the only exercise you get it the walk to the pub then your brain potential drops and the more you abuse it the more it drops untill you abuse it so much your brain goes past a potential of -1.0 and then you'll find if you continue to abuse your brain i'e eating raw coffee, and selling your bed so you can afford a reinforced chair for your over sized butt from lardo's 'r us your potential actually starts to increase.

If as most programmers you have Nescafe coming round every week to harvest your blood to freeze dry and sell back to you, have performed you own eye lidoptomy and have become so large that you find it difficult get your wrists away from the keyboard then you'll find that your brains potential will actually exceed that of your average know-it-all health freak and you reach that near perfect of a potential 0.99.

I made a nice graph to show all this if anyone can tell me how to insert an image here i'll upload.

ps all stereo types made in jest. except of course where they apply to you...