Ask HN: Why are so many programmers also musicians?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2389752

by CloudOps42 • 15 years ago

10 16 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

What is the similarity between playing music and writing code? It's not scientific, but it seems a huge percentage of my programming friends are also musicians. What are your thoughts?

zelandpanther• 15 years ago

Well maybe because programming is logical so it develop left brain hemisphere and music is one of activity that develop right brain hemisphere...so combining that to makes a balance.

code• 15 years ago

Might be just you and your group of friends. I know a lot of developers and none are musicians. That isn't to say there isn't a correlation or that there is one but most people tend to have friends with similar interest. That could be why you're sending a trend amongst your friends that happen to exhibit these two traits.

For example, among my friends, it seems common that most of the really good hackers tend to code and be avid runners. I'm sure there's no real correlation on that.

huwshimi• 15 years ago

I've find this correlation is even higher for designers.

michaelpinto• 15 years ago

It's the only way they can get girlfriends! /s

btw article of interest: http://www.infoworld.com/t/education-and-skills/why-are-so-m...

arctangent2• 15 years ago

There is a deep underlying relationship between mathematics and music:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_and_mathematics

Computer programming is the practical application of a subset of mathematics, so it stands to reason that programmers will tend to be interested in music. (And, specifically, people who like writing code will also tend to like making music.)

bartonfink• 15 years ago

I agree that the relationship is there, but I'm curious if there's any basis for your claim that folks who write software will also tend to write music instead of enjoying it in other ways.

arctangent2• 15 years ago

It's a purely genetic argument, based on the relationship between genotype and phenotype:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genotype-phenotype_distinction

I might be stretching it a bit, but I think it's probably fine to assume that people with innate abilities will express them in multiple similar ways.

Stormbringer2• 15 years ago

According to Hofstadter (no, not the guy from Big Bang Theory, the one that wrote Godel Escher Bach, the eternal golden braid), it is because there are strong links between music and maths, and there are also strong links between programming and maths.

Which suggests a solution to the problem of interviews and hiring good programmers. Take them to a Karaoke bar and get them plastered instead :D

barrydahlberg• 15 years ago

I can code, play a tune on guitar and tap out a rhythm but oh my, you do not want to hear me sing. I'm not sure the maths carries over that far!

Stormbringer2• 15 years ago

I can sing but I don't play any instruments. Some people play guitar, but not piano... your point?

staunch• 15 years ago

Because half the population considers themselves musicians and you're succumbing to confirmation bias.

haploid• 15 years ago

Beautiful. This is the correct answer. I'm sure well over half the developed world is currently "in a band".

My own anecdotal evidence shows no link at all between musicians and developers.

Geee• 15 years ago

Maybe it's the passion to control a machine/instrument to create something .. playing an instrument and coding is not that different in that sense. For me personally, what drives me to either code or play an instrument, or compose music, or create anything at all; it's very similar feeling. Also when you get your program running, or learn to play something, you get the same rewarding feeling.

bmelton• 15 years ago

I like to create. I'm a developer who doesn't feel too bad about his own design skills (even if they are quite obviously minimalist) - but I like to create things.

It's funny, my biggest weakness is shared between all my creative 'abilities', which is that I don't ever have the patience to 'learn' anything. I can practice all day long, and indeed, I've created quite a few songs on guitar that I'm proud of, but with the exception of a very few, I simply do not have the patience to sit down and learn somebody else's song, played somebody else's way.

(Oddly enough, this has RECENTLY changed slightly, in that I am doing my level best to learn how to play Rodrigo y Gabriela's version of 'Stairway to Heaven', which is, best I can figure, nigh impossible.)

daimyoyo• 15 years ago

Both require spatial thinking. To imagine how notes come together to form music isn't really that different from how lines of code create a program. Although music gets you laid more, which is why it's more popular IMHO.

mattm• 15 years ago

I went to salsa dancing for about 1.5 years. Pretty much every guy there who was a regular was either a programmer or an accountant. One day I asked my teacher about this. She said it wasn't just limited to my city, all over the world it's like this.

Her theory about why programmers tended to stay in dancing was that dancing is just a series of patterns. Programmers are good at recognizing patterns so dancing fits into the part of the brain that we are good at using.

Ask HN: Why are so many programmers also musicians?

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