

What real life bad habits has programming given you?
 - Sourge
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/164432/what-real-life-bad-habits-has-programming-given-you-closed

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aplusbi
Most of the answers are exactly what I think is wrong with nerd/programming
culture. Mostly it's people making dumb jokes, thinking they are clever and
trying to pass it off as reality.

Answers like "I wish I could query a bar for the women with big boobs lol"
just get under my skin.

That said, there are some good, honest answers in there. Counting from zero,
thinking 256 is a round number, etc. are all habits carried from programming
into the "real world" although I wouldn't call any of those bad.

The only one I saw that I would consider a bad habit is the guy who gets
frustrated when people don't give him enough details during a conversation.

~~~
sofuture
I didn't think it was all that bad, or at least I didn't read that far.

Calling text a "string" is one I am constantly trying to explain to my wife.
"You know, some text, a string?" "No...?"

~~~
aplusbi
I think the problem I have with it is that a lot of it is about trying to out-
geek other geeks. Like when someone says, "Oh yeah, well I'm so nerdy I dream
about code!"

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eru
I used to do that only once or twice (as far as I remember), and that was when
first really learning Scheme and wrapping my head around functional
programming.

But I am guilty of coming into office barefooted just to outgeek.

~~~
aplusbi
Last night I had a dream that I was telling a coworker he should use
reinterpret_cast for something. But I'm not going to go bragging about it and
I think it may be the only time I have ever actually dreamed about coding.

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ryandvm
Using Hungarian notation for naming my kids.

~~~
mahmud
Is Boy George your son?

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erikstarck
This reminds me of the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, a five level scale
where you go from novice to expert.

The expert is completely engulfed in the knowledge she has acquired and has
become one with it. She sees and thinks everything colored by her expertise.

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bitsai
I've been using/learning Emacs for a while now, which I think has made me more
sensitive to certain text formatting errors. Now, when I help my spouse proof-
read her academic papers, I get really hung up on things like extra/missing
spaces or tabs, mis-matched parentheses, and mis-matched quotation marks, much
to my spouse's amusement (and sometimes consternation).

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benologist
I throw exceptions.

At people.

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tom_ilsinszki
Whenever a non-technical person asks a computer related question, like: "Is it
possible to do X?", I have to force myself to give a short answer, without
going into details, in a way that it will fit that person's needs and
abilities.

I have to concentrate and run some scenarios (real time) while we are talking
about what that person is capable of, so that I can give them useful
information, without confusing them. Not really a bad habit (I think), nor is
it frustrating, but it definitely comes from my technical background, and it
takes some brain power.

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BonoboBoner
During a dialogue, trying to run the sentences of another person through some
kind of mental compiler and tell them about every error/illogical statement
they have made.

Seriously, dont start doing that. I makes you look like a smartass. My
experience is, a lot of business people say stupid things with a purpose just
to move on, even if it is totally illogical, but it is their initiative that
helps them to get out of an otherwise difficult situation.

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xpaulbettsx
Actually, here's one that is somewhat of a detriment - when making plans or
giving instructions, I leave out any information that wouldn't affect what
they need to do/choose, whereas people usually expect a "complete" description
so they can build an image in their head. "Why would you want to know that? It
won't affect your decision either way."

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edw519
\- determining the optimal route to drive somewhere based on historical data
from my own previous trips, including traffic patterns and time of day

\- using concurrent processing by shaving in the shower with a combo
shampoo/conditioner in my hair while coffee is brewing

\- visualizing grocery items in their rows and columns as I traverse the
supermarket database

\- giving the minimal required data to others to avoid unnecessary replication
and its associated maintenance - "The address is 123 Main St., google it for
directions."

\- referring to all nouns as objects, all adjectives as properties, and all
verbs as methods without giving it a second thought - "domain:bar -
chick.bluedress.checkOut()"

\- never wanting to do the anything twice (I just bathed yesterday; why don't
I just write a function to do it every day.)

\- never going anywhere new, always returning to where I came from, but with
an error condition

\- using the simplex method to minimize the sum of walking time plus driving
time when selecting a parking spot at Walmart

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andywood
I'd be able to relate to this better if it was "What real life good habits has
programming given you?" One of my favorites is thinking about what is possible
in similar terms to what is computable.

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blogimus
I find myself categorizing people into 10 types.

And I have to actively not slouch in front of computers.

~~~
Tichy
There was an article on hacker news recently about a study that found
slouching is actually better for the back than sitting upright.

~~~
mtinkerhess
Thanks, I missed that one when it was posted:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1345938>

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amishandroid
I have wanted to try to compile a paper I was writing to see if my logic made
sense.

