Does anyone else experience this after (or during) a programming binge?

• Inability to carry on a conversation
• Irritation with reality
• Inability to sleep
• Superimposition of source code over dreams
• Mentally programming the happenings of a dream as it happens
• Losing interest in your own sentences
• Hyper-rationality in general
• A nearly-locked jaw
• Conflict between hunger and tiredness due to self-neglect

Just wondering if I'm the only one. I do realize some people are like that, anyway . I think physics does this to me, also.
ta0kira

When I'm on a binge, I don't sleep and don't eat until/unless forced to by the absolute demands of my stomach.

After the binge, I sleep. Then I can't even look at a computer for a few days. But otherwise, I'm fine.

I have a 24h programming day once or twice a year. One time it was 36h, and I stopped only to go to the fridge and to the bathroom (that was surreal; completely sober, not even coffee.) Generally when I'm onto something or I'm fixing a problem it eats up most of my time (to include my trance-like sleep) for a few weeks or a few months, then I don't program for several months after that. I think programming hates me. These things actually happen to me after just a few hours of really grinding away at some code. That's one of the reasons I avoided CS! A guy I work with, who also isn't primarily a programmer, has similar things happen.
ta0kira

All of the above, sometimes a few symtoms are worse than others, it varies with time.

Also a few bad ones:
- Getting dizzy because of the up/down scrolling and jumping in the code.
- Picking up your tooth paste and think File | Open
- Seeing a car licence plate with 'DD' and wonder where the parameters are
- Seeing a car licence plate with '447' and think: that's a weird permission
- Worst of all: complete loss of sex drive

I am serious about the last one, and my wife doesn't accept it. Because of this I abandoned real hard programming and I stop after 10 pm. It is more productive anyway. For programming that is.

For physical and also psychological problems aerobic sports is really helpful. It provides the brain with more oxygen than usual and it washes away a lot of cluttered stuff above in your head.

jlinkels

Interesting. Those are symptoms known to me, although it has been years since I had a programming binge (if I understand the phrase correctly).

Still, these are still part of my life sometimes:
— Inability to carry on a conversation
— Superimposition of source code over dreams
— Mentally programming the happenings of a dream as it happens
— Getting dizzy because of the up/down scrolling and jumping in the code.
— Seeing a car licence plate with 'DD' and wonder where the parameters are

The third one is the worst in my opinion, when you have to somehow anxiously debug your nightmare, to win the possibility of awaking

Yves.

"Hyper-rationality in general".
I also experienced "inability to think" after working too much once (month in non-stop mode with all skills thrown at the problem). Wasn't pleasant (literally, brain refused to think about anything even tiny bit complicated), took a day to wear off. Fortunately, friend asked to help him to remove background from some photos in gimp, and cleaning pixels with brush was surprisingly relaxing (probably because it was stupid, menial tasks which didn't involve any thinking).

If all this bothers you, I'd recommend to walk in green areas (forests, parks, if available), visiting friends, have a girlfriend, etc. And it makes sense to reduce number of hours spent programming. You don't need to spend more than 4..6 hours per day, and most interesting ideas sometimes comes to mind when you aren't sitting in front of computer.

Almost always.

I have a rule (actually, two): don't think on programming/algorithm/concept while sitting before a computer; don't think on circuit problem/concept/issue while holding soldering iron in your hand and/or while looking at signals on oscilloscope screen.

To the OP: Twinkie wrappers and empty coffee cups dude, and a keyboard print on your face

Sergei sounds like he knows what he is talking about!

Hi.

I have been in an IEEE study group on Creatively for a few years. We've gone through several books and methodologies, e.g.: Thinkertoys, TRIZ.

The one book I keep coming back to is Flow. He mentions several positive aspects of working hard -- in the zone -- but rarely any negative aspects, although he discusses stress briefly.

I get something from the book every time I pick it up ... cheers, makyo

Not actually, but sometimes I dream bug fixes. When I wake up I try the solution I dreamt and it actually works.

Am I insane?

* I lose the ability to speak my native language (due to reading documentation and tutorials and books in a different language..) and start to mix German and English together in one sentence - if I can utter something coherent at all.

* I start to be extremely forgetful when not sitting in front of the notebook and coding - like getting up to fetch some water, standing in the middle of my appartment and asking myself what I just wanted to do and why I got up in the first place.

* and I start to run into things, because my mind is elsewhere (badly, like nearly running into cars because I totally missed walking over the street mentally..)

* coordinated handling of "stuff" gets really difficult - like the steps to cook meal XY - done a thousand times and suddenly I have to remember with real effort how to cook pasta...

But the same goes for the time I wrote my thesis or in times learning intensely something new. It's not something specific to programming.

Makyo: There are several newer and more extensive books of Csikszentmihalyi on the subject - all very good.

Yes, this has been a vice of mine for almost a decade. I get an above-average amount of exercise because not doing so brings its own host of undesirable side effects (apathy, always sleeping, anxiety, negativity, too much programming, weight loss, etc.)I do quite a few strenuous outdoor activities (human powered,) actually. Having a girl around is also helpful because I generally program about 1h a week then. The absolute most helpful thing is not being a programmer by trade!

In my experience, intellect, physical exertion, and meaningful interaction all counterbalance each other. If one is too high or too low then things start going down hill. I think there's a theory regarding an antagonistic relationship between intellectual exertion and social interaction (physiologically.) I don't know of a specific article, but someone I know will be researching it soon.
ta0kira

I have been on an "I can't do any coding" kick for the last couple of weeks. In fact, I have done some SNMP work, but it is sending me up the wall.

So I have been spending a lot of time fiddling with the motorcycle I bought. I bought a crashed bike and I have been repairing it. Just took it on the street for the first time today. Think I won't be getting much coding done for the next couple of days now

i suck at conversation.
i hate talking.
i am the most rational/ logical person i know aside from a few professors. everything can be sorted into a few yes/ no questions or ven diagrams.

i dont find this to be a problem at all but rather enlightening.

For me, when I've coded a whole bunch on one project, I often feel like I never want to look at the problem again. Then I take a break and within an hour I've got some new idea or solution that I want to try. I code all day at work then I drive home and think, how could I possibly want to write code when I get home? But then after dinner and the news, half the time I go right back at it. I guess I may be too committed for my own good. Though I suppose I have the same problem in reverse too; when I take a holiday and don't touch my machine for a week I just cannot get motivated to start again.