Ask HN: What do you listen to when coding?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1602430

by siruva07 • 16 years ago

11 16 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm also a proud N00b learning RoR (via awesome tutorial http://railstutorial.org/book#top)

Need some badass music to code to. Any suggestions, i.e. bands, pandora stations, etc?

colonelxc• 16 years ago

The key thing for me is something that I know well, so I can tune it out. I still enjoy the music, but once I'm working hard it just becomes white noise.

mhd• 16 years ago

Yup, that works for me, too.

Another important factor: Not too many pauses, or I'll catch myself waiting for the music to continue. That rules out a lot of classical music and "serious" prog rock for me.

In the end, it's a lot of middle-of-the-road metal for me, or light prog. Pandora/last.fm stations for Iron Maiden or the Alan Parsons Project work pretty well.

chrisclark1729• 16 years ago

Truth. As much as I love hip-hop, it's not great coding music because there are too many words which draw your focus away.

ayb• 16 years ago

Depending on my mood I listen to hip-hop when I code. I've tried various genres but for some reason hip-hop is working the best for me right now.

I will either listen to just one song on auto repeat or a tiny playlist of < 5 songs on shuffle/repeat. Too many songs and I find that I get distracted when the songs change.

At times I also listen to a "white noise" CD called Holosync that is theoretically supposed to help improve neural connections. I like it just because it is noise and not distracting, but I have no evidence to show that it helps me code or is actually improving my brain function.

I've had multiple days where I made fantastic progress while listening to the Notorious BIG's "Hypnotize" on continuous loop for 12+ hours straight. :-)

what• 16 years ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1525445

siruva07• 16 years ago

thanks!

shaunxcode• 16 years ago

Right now: kill Holiday.

mishmash• 16 years ago

Usually listen to one of the SomaFM stations, but listening to one of the Through the Wormhole episodes ATM.

lani• 16 years ago

moby. plus there's this huge thread on reddit...

thereddestruby• 16 years ago

I don't listen to anything when coding. I'm not smart enough to think of more than one thing at a time.

lchengify• 16 years ago

1. http://www.pandora.com 2. Create a station for "Paul Oakenfold" 3. Hit Play 4. Code like a beast

jgavris• 16 years ago

sometimes I listen to etn.fm

bbc's radio one is quite good as well

xulescu• 16 years ago

I'm listening to the rain. I code better when it rains outside.

pstinnett• 16 years ago

anything from www.ghostly.com

fjabre• 16 years ago

Soundtracks - Hans Zimmer, Philip Glass, Howard Shore, James Horner etc.. I tend to find them motivational for things like coding.. especially when I'm coding for my own startup.

epyck• 16 years ago

Boards of Canada Rusko / dubstep deadmau5

Ask HN: What do you listen to when coding?

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