

Ask HN: What's your favorite coding atmosphere? - reubenpressman

What's your favorite coding atmosphere?<p>I'm curious how everyone likes to code, not which software.. more like what kind of music, space, monitor/keyboard setup, standing/sitting, temperature, people surrounding, time of the day, etc..
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mindcrime
Varies, but a common favourite is:

Time: Nighttime, preferably after midnight.

Location: In bed, with my laptop propped on my knees and waist, and my head up
against some pillows.

Temp: Thermostat set on about 65.

Light: Just the glow of the laptop screen, _maybe_ a lamp sometimes.

Beverge: A pot of strong coffee on in the kitchen. Usually a Sumatra or
Columbian of some sort.

Music: Queensryche, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Savatage, Dokken, In Flames,
Children of Bodom, Iron Maiden, Testament, Godsmack, Vains of Jenna, Emperor,
Nocturnal Rites, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Crashdiet, Bon Jovi, Borknagar,
Bonfire, KISS, Kix, Journey, Lacuna Coil, Lizzy Borden, AC/DC, Annihilator,
Agnostic Front, Armored Saint, Alice Cooper, Cinderella, Twisted Sister,
Morbid Angel, Deicide, Death, Van Halen, Voi Vod, Vader, Warlock, W.A.S.P.,
Whitesnake, Five Finger Death Punch, Exodus, Overkill, Sepultura, System of a
Down, etc.

As an alternative:

Place: Barnes & Noble cafe or Starbucks or similar

Time: Saturday, from about noon, until ...

Temp: Whatever

Light: Whatever. I usually sit near the windows, and if there's a lot of
sunlight glare on my screen, I roll down the blinds to nix that.

Beverage: a bottle of Fiji water and a venti sugarfree mocha w/ whole milk,
sugar-free caramel flavour and no whip.

Music: Same as above

In either case, I may sometimes switch up the music for trance / electronic
music of some sort, preferably with no lyrics, or classical music.

If I'm home in bed, I'll occasionally forgo the music and put a movie that
I've already seen 100 times (The Matrix, The Social Network, Sneakers,
Hackers, etc.) on the big monitor across from the foot of the bed, and turn
the volume down fairly low. I basically ignore it, but when I need a break
from looking at the screen, I can look up and focus on that for a minute or
two.

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kellishaver
I'm more productive at night. My office has good ambient lighting and I like
to keep it between 72-74 degrees. In the summer, that usually means I'll keep
a fan going, which provides some nice white noise, as well.

I develop on a 21.5in iMac, standard Apple keyboard (the one with the number
pad, not the wireless one) and have both a magic mouse and a magic touchpad. I
tend to use the mouse more. I only have the one display. I like the idea of
two, but with only one eye, which, itself, has peripheral retina damage, the
very narrow visual field means two monitors causes more neck and eye muscle
strain than it's worth. My desk chair is a pretty beat up, inexpensive,
generic office chair, but it's comfortable.

There's a couch in the office, good for sitting and reading, and a stationary
bike, good for taking breaks and thinking sometimes.

If I'm not doing anything too mentally taxing, I will have music on - usually
Pandora, so never quite know what to expect. Otherwise I prefer silence, or
something like the fan running, or rain.simplynoise.com.

The office has to be kept super clean and organized, otherwise I have
difficulty focusing and start to feel a bit cramped/crowded (it's a 14x16
room)..... a quality that does _not_ carry over to the rest of my house, which
is either a blessing or a curse..... not sure which.

I am occasionally accompanied by a cat that likes to sleep on my feet, or a
hound who will make himself at home on the sofa.

------
w4tch3r
Music: something I don't know well so my brain doesn't want to try to sing...I
usually put on a Pandora station for indie rock or metal

Keyboard: mechanical keyboard (blue switches...the noisier the better)

Monitor: 2 monitors...even though I only use one about 90% of the time, it's
nice to have API docs, mockups, notes, etc. on the other one that are only a
glance away. I prefer the monitors to be widescreen so I can put things side
by side nicely.

Space: in my room, or if I have to be in an office, a desk far away from
people with headphones on. There's also a 24/7 french bakery with awesome wifi
that I did a majority of my college coding projects in...that atmosphere is
naturally productive for me somehow lol

Always sitting. I have a standing/sitting desk at my work and I'm starting to
take a liking to standing, but I feel less productive.

People surrounding: as minimal as possible unless we're group-thinking a
problem

Time: early mornings, or after 10pm

------
traxtech
My favorite coding atmosphere is like 70% N2, 20% O2 and 1% Ar.

Big desk, two large monitors, Aeron chair (I miss it :/), Logitech illuminated
keyboard, G500 mouse, 21°C temp, 11 PM, nobody, no noise, just the keyboard
clicks rythming the night.

------
digitalmaster
Place: I like changing my environment frequently (bedroom, office, coffee
shops, bookstores etc.. Working in the same place every day is exhausting; for
some reason and slows creativity and drains my energy.

Temperature: Cool/Cozy.. as long as i'm not sweating bullets it's all good.

Time: I work best at night. For some strange reason I am most focused when the
rest of the world is sleeping ~10pm - 5am. Maybe it's because i'm certain that
no one will interrupt me OR maybe it's because there's really nothing else to
do at that time (i'm not missing anything). I might have DSPS. lol

------
codeonfire
Large table with 4-6 large monitors

Location: doesn't matter, alone at the bottom of a mine shaft for all I care
as long as every other living things are kept out of the vicinity. Physical
places are irrelevant.

People: A hindrance to coding. Interruptions made to me are always for the
other person's benefit. I usually have better information as well, so there's
no 'ask a neighbor' benefit.

Temp: 74 Fahrenheit

Lighting : well lit

Music: DnB or many other types of electronic music from the last 15 years.

Keyboard: no funny key positions

Mouse: basic optical

------
city41
Location: at home or in a big, comfortable coffee shop.

Music: none, or the Massive Attack station on Pandora (great mix of light,
electronic music that is tops to code to).

Hardware: my MacBook Pro, although my MS Surface Pro hooked up to a monitor
and keyboard is gaining traction, too bad it's a lousy laptop.

Lighting: lots of it, I'm the rare dev that hates dark rooms

------
infogaufire
Any music (beats are must), anywhere (bed or desk or couch), Mac Air, sitting,
preferably in company of other coders(& friends). And I am a big time night
person 11pm to 4am works the best for me.

------
meerita
I'm more productive at night, when girlfriend is sleeping and I am on my
studio, with SomaFM radio and just a desk lamp. Ah, and lots of Camparis with
Orange and Soda at my side.

